Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Legend of the Dark Reader
by wolf expert
Summary: After Aamira's disappearance two months ago, she has now mysteriously reappeared with some strange scars. What they don't know is that their last adventure was only a small part of something much bigger and Aamira's forgotten past is the only clue.
1. Chapter 1 New Beginning

"I can't believe it… You're back…"

Aamira tilted her head. "Do… Do I know you?"

Quill's heart fell into his stomach. He turned to Aipom who was looking at him sadly. He turned back to Aamira. "No… It can't be…"

Aamira continued to look at him in the same confused way. Then a broad, amused smile spread over her face.

"Hey!" Quill punched her in the arm and Aamira burst out laughing.

"Oh I got you good!" Aamira said through her laughter.

"You scared me!" Quill said. "Don't pretend to have amnesia ever again!"

"I'll keep that in mind the next time I disappear for the sake of saving the world." Aamira said with a smile

Aipom sighed desperately. "Kids… Now there's two of them I have to watch over…" All three of them laughed.

"You're… I just can't believe it!" Quill's eyes filled with tears.

"What? Now I was under the impression that you were happy to see me." Aamira smiled. "So what's with the waterworks, huh?"

"I'm just so happy you're back!" Quill collapsed on the ground and couldn't hold back his tears any longer.

Aamira and Aipom both smiled and looked up at each other. The smile disappeared from Aipom's face almost immediately after she looked up at Aamira.

"Quill…?" She said. "Don't you think her eyes look sort of strange?"

Quill wiped the tears from his eyes and sat up to look up at Aamira. "Hey you're right. They change color sometimes, but they look… familiar."

"Familiar?" Aamira walked up to the edge of the lake and looked at her reflection in the water. She gasped and grabbed her left arm with her right hand when she saw her eyes. "They… They look like Lucario's."

Aamira smiled for a second. She was wearing Lucario's cloak and the Nightmare Gem that Lucario used to wear around his neck. And now her eyes looked like Lucario's. Maybe this was even sort of what Lucario looked like as a Riolu? She tried to imagine what Lucario would have looked like when he was younger and was training with his father.

"You don't think maybe Lucario was the reason that you came back?" Quill said.

Aamira's smile faded and she turned back to him. "How could it? Lucario was sealed inside that staff along with most of his aura."

"Wait, most of his aura?" Aipom said.

"Well I can't use any of my abilities when Lucario's not around. Before I was able to because I had that scarf he made me and that had most of his aura in it. But we left that scarf here and Lucario was sealed inside the Aura Scepter. At first I didn't see how I would be able to save the world without Lucario, but then I realized that Lucario was still helping me." Aamira grabbed the Nightmare Gem around her neck. "The Nightmare Gem has its own aura, but since it was with Lucario for such a long time a lot of his excess aura was stored inside of it."

"So maybe Lucario is the reason you came back." Quill said. "Isn't that possible? Since you still technically had some energy, you could come back."

Aamira shook her head. "I used up all of Lucario's stored aura also. Not to mention the aura from those Lunar Flowers. And besides, if I still technically had some aura left, I wouldn't have disappeared in the first place. It just doesn't make any sense. I know it couldn't have been the Nightmare Gem; its aura doesn't feel like it's been used up at all and this kind of aura seems too unstable to even use."

"So why do your eyes look like Lucario's?" Quill asked. "And how were you able to come back?"

"Maybe we could ask Noctowl." Aamira suggested. "He seems to usually have an answer."

"He doesn't like thinking as much now." Aipom said. "You know, all an Aura Reader really has to do to use their abilities is think. I think what happened to Alakazam is still a little fresh in his mind, even though Alakazam made a full recovery."

"Wow, a full recovery that fast?" Aamira said.

"Actually a few weeks isn't that fast." Quill said.

"A few weeks!" Aamira said. "How long was I gone?"

Aipom and Quill looked at each other for a minute. Finally Aipom spoke. "This isn't exact but… around two months."

"Two months!" Aamira shouted in her surprise. "There's no way it was that long. The last thing I remember was seeing you, Quill, then it felt like I fell asleep or something and now I'm here. There's no way that was two months."

"You know, maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask Noctowl about this." Quill said. "And it's not like we can just go running through town shouting, 'Hey everyone, look who just mysteriously reappeared at Lake Harmony!'"

"Yea, I guess you've got a point there…" Aamira smiled awkwardly.

"Okay, so while you two do that I can get my team and tell everyone else. That way they won't be too surprised when they see the two of you walking down the street. Although a lot of people will probably want to throw a party because the one on the day you disappeared was sort of gloomy." Aipom said.

Aipom ran off to her team's base and Aamira and Quill headed for Town Hall. Quill knocked on the door, not wanting to simply just barge in. The one who answered the door wasn't Noctowl, but Espeon.

She looked at Quill for only a second then noticed Aamira. She stared at her for a bit longer as if deciding if it were possible then pulled Aamira into a death hug. "I can't believe it! How is this possible!"

Aamira, who was having the air squeezed out of her lungs, struggled at first to try to say something but eventually gave up.

"Hey, come on Espeon!" Quill said. "I don't want to lose Aamira again!"

Espeon finally let go. "I'm sorry, I just… I can't believe that… How? How did you…?"

"We have no idea." Aamira said while rubbing her left arm. "So everything is as it should be!"

"I'm so sorry…!" Espeon said. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I just got too excited. Well don't just stand there! You know Noctowl would want to see you." Espeon walked into the town hall building and the two of them followed. Espeon shouted up the stairs and Noctowl came down a moment later.

Noctowl stopped halfway down the stairs and stared at Aamira as if he had just seen a ghost. He kept walking down the stairs and never once took his eyes off of Aamira. "How…? It's not possible…"

Aamira didn't know what she was supposed to say. Apparently no one else did either. After a while Noctowl walked to the other side of the room where a Delibird was sleeping in the window.

"Delibird. Wake up." Noctowl said.

Delibird woke up at looked at Noctowl angrily. "I only do night deliveries. Bug one of the other Delibird."

"This can't wait." Noctowl said. "Send a message to Special Services HQ right away. Tell them Aamira has reappeared."

Delibird straightened up and looked around, sure he must have misunderstood. Then he spotted Aamira. "Oh! Right away! Right away!" Delibird flew out of the window laughing cheerfully.

"I didn't realize I would be missed so much…" Aamira said after another moment of silence.

"Next time think about that before you go disappearing on us!" Quill said.

Aamira smiled, though she couldn't help feeling slightly guilty.

"Hard to believe how long ago it was that you were standing here just as you are now." Noctowl said to Aamira. "You were somewhat quiet then, but you got used to life here and as a pokemon. Now you seem to have returned to the way you were back then. It's probably going to take you some time to readjust."

Aamira looked down at the ground. 'There's another reason I'm so quiet, I guess. When I came here that first time I didn't have any memories so I didn't have much of a reason to talk or anything. Now I've reappeared after being gone for two months and I can't even remember what it was like when I disappeared. So I guess it's sort of the same now. Reappearing two months after disappearing… it sort of makes it feel like I'm in an entirely different world, which really wouldn't be too surprising.'

"So do you have any idea how this might have happened?" Quill asked.

Noctowl shook his head. "Maybe if Aamira could remember anything about disappearing."

"Can't remember a thing." Aamira said. "One minute I was with Quill at Lake Harmony getting ready to disappear and the next I'm back on the other side of the lake." Aamira's right hand went to her left arm.

Quill noticed. "Why do you keep doing that?"

Aamira let her arm fall to her side again. "Doing what?"

"I've noticed you do that a few times now. You keep grabbing your left arm as if it's in pain or something." Quill said.

"Maybe because you punched me when I pretended to have amnesia?" Aamira said slyly.

"But I punched you on your right arm." Quill said. "I don't think I'll forget that too quickly."

"You punched your sister!" Espeon snapped at Quill. Aamira and Noctowl laughed.

Now that Aamira was thinking about it, there was a sharp pain in her arm, but it was so slight that she hadn't even noticed it before. Aamira pulled the cloak of. When her arm started hurting worse when she tried to take it out of the sleeve, she started to take it off slower, figuring that she must have gotten hurt somehow. Everyone gasped when they saw why Aamira kept grabbing her arm. Aamira tensed up. Across her arm were three horrible looking burns. The way they were they almost looked like scratch marks.

"This just keeps getting weirder." Quill said. "This is sort of like déjà vu from the first time you showed up here. You had amnesia but you could remember being turned into a pokemon, and you had that scarf. This time you can't remember what it was like when you disappeared, though obviously something did happen, your eyes look like Lucario's now, and you have those burns."

"I think they've actually scarred over by now." Noctowl said. "I don't think they will ever go away."

"Couldn't those scars just be from when the two of you battled that Giratina?" Espeon asked.

"I don't think so." Noctowl said. "Look at her. Not a single scratch or bruise. Just those scars. And don't you think one of us would have noticed if she had an injury so bad that it would have turned into this after all of that time?"

"I guess we'll never really know who you are." Espeon said to Aamira with a smile. "But I guess that's for you to find out now, isn't it?"

Aamira smiled.

Espeon turned to Quill. "And I think the same thing goes for you. I doubt you two won't continue Team Sleuth now that Aamira is back."

"Of course we are!" Quill said. "But I don't know what we're going to do about our team base. It was almost burned down in that fire and it might collapse at any minute."

"Why did you insist on staying there all of that time?" Espeon asked.

"Too many memories to leave behind I guess…" Quill said. "It would still be sort of sad to leave it behind, but we can't run an Investigation Team from there."

"Well if my message gets to Pacis soon, Team Sleuth might be asked to join Special Services." Noctowl said.

"Oh yea." Quill said. "I forgot. They got a new leader after they found out about Mismagius being evil. I think it was Electivire. Team Sky saved him a while back so it's no wonder they were asked to join."

A Delibird flew through the window panting really hard. It was a different one than the one that had taken Noctowl's message to Special Services. "I've got a letter for Team Sleuth." She took a letter out of her bag and handed it to Quill.

"Hey, why don't you read it?" Quill handed Aamira the letter.

"Okay." Aamira opened the letter and read aloud. "'Dear Aamira and Quill. Hi you two! It's been a while. It's Eevee. Surely you remember me. Well anyway, let me just say I couldn't believe it when we got word that Aamira had just suddenly reappeared. I was sure that someone was playing a joke on everyone else; a lot of stuff like that happens around here when everyone has free time. But after a while we realized that it wasn't any joke. I wanted to be the first to send you a message and Electivire said it was okay as long as I added that he wants you to join Special Services. It would be so cool if you came to work here. And guess what else has happened since we last saw each other? Actually, it happened right before Delibird came in with Noctowl's message. I finished that machine I was working on! You know, the one I said would change the way a lot of pokemon lived? I asked another team to test it and if it goes well I want your team to be the first to try it out officially. Anyway, I hope to see you soon. Your friend, Eevee.'"

"Wow, Eevee got his machine working!" Quill said. "Hey Espeon, do you know what it is that he's been working on?"

"I do, but I want it to be a surprise. I know you'll probably like it, Quill." She said.

"Well let's go right away!" Aamira said. "We wouldn't want to keep Eevee waiting, would we? He seems pretty fired up about this machine of his."

"Yea, he sure does." Quill said. "We should go find the rest of our team then get ready to leave."

"Hold on a second." Noctowl said. "Aamira, I have to ask you to try to hide those scars. Something like that could probably raise a lot of questions. After everything that's happened, I think it would be best not to attract too much attention. For now just wear that cloak and try not to touch your arm too much."

"But it hurts my arm trying to take the cloak off." Aamira said. "I can't keep putting it on and taking it off if it makes my arm hurt and I can't wear it all the time either."

"How about this?" Quill said. "You wear it again until we leave for Pacis to get to Special Services then take it off again after we leave, bandage up your arm, and just say that we ran into some trouble on the way there."

"That's a good idea, Quill." Espeon said. "But you know, I'm going to miss seeing you all of the time. Maybe I'll come by to visit every now and then."

"That would be great!" Quill said, obviously trying to force back tears.

"Oh and one last thing, Aamira." Noctowl said. "You remember when you gave your scarf to Persian in exchange for the Emit Rings?"

"Yea." Aamira ran her finger over the ring, which she was still wearing. "Did he lose my scarf?"

"Something like that." Noctowl said. "Right after you disappeared, strangely enough so did the scarf. I don't think he was lying. Since you and Lucario were gone and took his Emit rings, he didn't have any reason to lie about it."

"I guess when Lucario said that scarf was made for you and wouldn't work for anyone else, he wasn't exaggerating. Without you I guess that scarf had no reason to exist at all." Quill said. "Same with Daisy. I think you were the only reason she was sticking around here so after you disappeared she wandered off somewhere."

"Well that's too bad. Daisy came from the human world like I did so at least we sort of understood each other, in a way. As for the scarf… Oh well, I guess. I guess I'll just keep wearing the Nightmare Gem." Aamira pulled the cloak on again painfully. "Well, let's get going. I bet it's probably going to take a while since Aipom told everyone in the city that I came back. They'll probably be staring at us and following us the whole time."

Quill laughed.

Aamira was right. Not only were they bombarded with questions as soon as they got out of the door, but everywhere they went they were followed or stared at. It was especially annoying when a group of kids spotted them. Apparently they all wanted to become Investigation Team members and kept asking them the weirdest questions about what it was like. They met up with the rest of their team at Kangaskhan's storage.

"Aamira!" Machop took Aamira's hands. "It's been too long, my love, I—."

Before he could finish Aamira grabbed Machop's hands and flipped him onto his back. "He'll never learn…"

Haunter cackled and turned over in the air. "I missed you doing that! But it's not like I haven't been torturing him and Nuzleaf in your place."

"I told him he had to be more opened towards someone if he liked them." Nuzleaf started laughing. "You wouldn't believe how much trouble he got into that way. He took me way too seriously."

"Neither of you get it at all, do you!" Aamira snapped at Nuzleaf and Machop. "I'd be surprised if either of you ever got a girlfriend!"

"Hey!" Machop got to his feet. "I guarantee that one day you will be my girlfriend! I don't care how many times you turn me down."

"And do I have a choice in the matter?" Aamira asked him. Machop seemed to be considering this. Aamira used Force Palm and blasted him halfway across town square. "You idiot!"

Nuzleaf shook his head. "Mr. Sensitive, everyone!"

Machop sat up and rubbed his head. "Was it something I said…?"

"That's low even for you…" Quill said to him.

Aamira opened her mouth to say something, but instead just sighed and shook her head.

"What is it?" Quill asked.

"Wasn't Machop the one I was forced to fight a while back when we were on our first messenger job? Then didn't he nearly kill me? Then invited himself to join Team Sleuth?"

"You've got a point…" Quill said. "Not exactly a good first impression."

"Yea? Well we're going to be traveling all the way to Pacis together, so too bad." Machop said.

"You need a math lesson." Nuzleaf said. "Four pokemon can travel together, and there are five in our team. That means one of us won't be able to travel with everyone else."

"You can't expect me to go to Pacis alone!" Machop said.

"Right. So Nuzleaf will be going with you." Aamira said.

"What!" they both said at the same time.

"You can't expect me to babysit this guy the whole time!" Nuzleaf said.

"Good point." Quill said. "Haunter, you go with them."

Haunter cackled. "With pleasure!"

"No!" Both Nuzleaf and Machop shouted.

"Alright, let's get moving." Aamira said.

When they got to the entrance of the first dungeon, Aamira took off the cloak again and put it in her bag and bandaged her arm just as they planned. By the time they got to Pacis, the bandages would probably be dirty enough to look convincing. The dungeon was pretty easy; a nice change of pace for them. At least that's what Aamira thought before she found out that Quill had stopped going on missions because he couldn't get into it and kept getting defeated every time he stepped foot into a dungeon. Of course since it seemed like their battle in Origin Tower happened only yesterday to Aamira, it was a nice change of pace to her.

Night was falling by the time they reached the planes of Pacis. In the distance they could see a city and the Special Services building. The stars were shining brightly above them in the sky, which for once they could see without any trees or mountains in the way. Somehow Quill and Aamira were able to get to Special Services HQ at the same time as the rest of their team. Eevee was waiting there for them.

"It's true! It's true!" He said while jumping up and down. "I can't believe you're actually back!"

"None of us can really." Quill said. "So what's this about that machine you were working on?"

"Oh yea." Eevee said. "The team that volunteered to test it out just finished a while ago so I couldn't resist coming out here to wait for you. It works great! It didn't even blow up the first time! Come with me and I'll show you." Eevee led the way through the door and they were immediately greeted with cheers from one side of the room.

On that side of the room was a bunch of their friends. There was Weavile, Houndoom, Gliscor, Charmeleon, Typhlosion, Infernape (who wasn't much of a friend), Sceptile, Meganium, Venusaur, Crawdaunt, Croconaw, and even Pikachu, Plusle, and Minun of Team Sparks.

"I couldn't believe it when I heard that you came back!" Charmeleon said. "It's great to see both of you again."

"After the world was saved we decided to restart Team night." Weavile said. "And we ironically decided to join Special Services."

"Hey, hey! You guys can talk later at dinner." Eevee said. "For now you have to see my machine!"

"Does it really work?" Charmeleon asked.

"Sure does." Eevee said. "You can try it out after Team Sleuth if you want." Eevee led them through a door and down a long hallway. At the very end was a door that had a strange green-blue light coming from behind it. Inside was a large capsule-like machine that was hooked up to a computer. "Well, here it is! The pokemon evolution machine!"

Machop laughed. "Evolution machine! You expect me to believe this actually makes pokemon evolve?"

"It sure does!" Eevee said. "And they're the proof."

Standing next to the machine was an Ambipom, a Butterfree, and a Primeape.

"Hiya, Quill!" Ambipom said.

Quill stared at her for a minute. "Aipom! Is that you?"

"And Mankey." Primeape said.

"And Caterpie too." Butterfree said. "We've only met once, but surely you remember me?"

"Yea, I remember." Aamira said. "So it really works! The three of you were able to evolve."

"Hey, I want to try this out!" Machop said.

"You were just saying you didn't believe it worked." Nuzleaf said.

"Whatever. You just imagined it!" Machop walked inside the machine. "Hey! What are you waiting for!"

"Alright." Eevee walked over to the computer. "I'm doing this for free specially for your team, so any of your team members can evolve whenever they want." Eevee started typing on the computer, but stopped with an awkward expression after a minute.

"What is it?" Quill asked.

"It looks like Machop's level is too low for him to evolve." Eevee said.

"What!" Machop ran over to Eevee. "Some genius you are! We still need to be a certain level?"

"Afraid so." Eevee said.

"What a shame." Nuzleaf sneered at Machop.

"Why don't you evolve then?" Machop said to Nuzleaf.

"I can't." Nuzleaf said. "Not because I'm too weak but because I would need to have a Leaf Stone to evolve."

"I want to try this out." Haunter floated into the machine and waited for Eevee to start it up.

Eevee started typing on the computer again. "You need a Link Cable to evolve. Well since this is my gift to Team Sleuth, I guess I can let you use the one I have, but I don't have any more evolution items currently." Eevee put some sort of box into a side compartment on the machine and started to type on the computer again. "Alright, you're all set." Eevee pressed a green button on his computer.

Haunter started glowing and in a few seconds he changed into a larger pokemon that had arms and legs and a large smile on its face. Haunter stepped out of the machine and looked into a mirror that was on the wall next to the machine.

"Hey it worked." He said. "So for now on, you can all call me Gengar!"

"Nice to meet you, Gengar!" Aamira said.

"So what about you?" Quill asked Aamira. "Do you think you want to evolve?"

"I don't know…." Aamira said. "If I did evolve, I would turn into Lucario… No, I don't think I want to…"

"Oh, yea. I get it…" Quill said. "Alright, well I'm going to try it. I want to be a Typhlosion like my dad!"

"You might want to get used to being a Quilava before evolving into Typhlosion." Eevee said. "Typhlosion is pretty different from Cyndaquil, so you might want to get used to Quilava before going into a big change like Typhlosion. I let Caterpie evolve into Butterfree because Butterfree's so different from both Metapod and Caterpie that it didn't matter either way."

"Okay, Quilava first then." Quill stepped into the machine.

"Alright, get ready." Eevee started typing on the computer again, but when he pressed the green button, nothing happened. "Huh?"

"Is something wrong?" Quill asked.

"Wait, don't move." Eevee said. "I'm going to do a scan to see why it's not working." Eevee started typing on the computer again and a few different screens all came up. "This is so strange… Hey Aamira, if you don't mind, would you take Quill's place in the machine real quick?"

"But I don't want to evolve." Aamira said.

"I know, don't worry. You wouldn't be able to evolve anyway without a sun ribbon. I just want to do a scan on you to see if you have the same problem."

"There some sort of problem?" Aamira stepped into the machine after Quill came out. "What do you think it is?"

"I'm not sure yet. That's why I want to do a scan." Eevee started typing on the computer again and like before a bunch of different screens came up. They made no sense whatsoever to anyone there, except Eevee apparently. "This is so strange. Both of you seem to have an abnormal molecular structure."

"What does that mean exactly?" Quill asked.

"Well some pokemon who are around a certain environment for a long time either can't evolve or are born in their final evolutionary form. But I don't think that really applies to the two of you. Even if it were because you were in Atra and Desolo before, I don't think you were in either long enough for your molecular structure to change. It's sort of understandable for Aamira since her molecular structure was changed when she turned into a pokemon, but I still don't really understand why Quill's was changed." Eevee sighed. "Oh well. I knew this couldn't be it. It wouldn't be any fun without something to research anyway. I'm just sorry that what was supposed to be sort of a welcome back present for you ended up just giving me more work."

"That's alright." Quill said. "It sort of gave us more things to think about too. And what's an Investigation Team without a mystery to solve?"

Eevee smiled. "Well, it's almost dinner, so let's go to the café. That's where we get all of our meals. Just follow me and I'll show you where it is."

The café was actually below the main building in a kind of cave setting. There were fires all around and instead of lunch tables or something like that, there were chairs and couches and coffee tables all set up in front of the fires. In spite of being in a cave, there was a nice relaxing and almost homey feel to it. After they were done eating Aamira curled up on one of the couches that was right in front of a fire and fell into what was sort of like a relaxing half sleep.

A while later Electivire came down and Team Sky introduced him to Team Sleuth.

"So this is the famous Team Sleuth I've heard so much about from Noctowl." He said. "Doesn't look like a very lively bunch."

"I like it down here…" Quill said. He was the only one who seemed fully awake. Machop and Gengar had completely fallen asleep, Nuzleaf was playing a leaf whistle song and Aamira, of course, was still half asleep on a couch. When she saw Electivire, all she could manage to do was yawn.

"It is pretty relaxing down here, isn't it?" Electivire said. "Anyway, since your Treehouse was nearly burned down in a fire, I'd take it that you wouldn't mind joining us."

"We'd love to." Quill said. "We were supposed to join before we knew Mismagius was evil, but a bunch of weird events sort of kept us away from here."

"Great. We'll send you on your first mission tomorrow and if everything goes well you'll be official members of Special Services. Oh, and that reminds me, a few of our members think that in light of what's happened we should come up with a new name. Do any of you have an idea?

Aamira yawned and sat up rubbing one of her eyes. "What about the Investigator's Brigade?"

"I like that one." Electivire said. "Alright, that one will be added to the poll. The new name should be chosen soon." Electivire turned to leave and shouted to one of the other pokemon. "Kricketune, would you mind showing Team Sleuth to their new room?"

"No problem." Kricketune walked over to them. "Just follow me. Since you're from Sylva and you're used to being in a Treehouse, your rooms on the top floor."

"I don't wanna walk!" Machop groaned when Kricketune woke him up.

"And one more thing." Kricketune said after a while when they got to the top floor. "Because we have so many members, every team shares one room. It might take some getting used to." He spotted Aamira's bandaged arm. "And maybe I should send up a doctor?"

"Oh, no, it's okay." Aamira said. "We just ran into a little trouble on the way here. It's nothing serious."

"Well alright, if you're sure." Kricketune turned and left.

Their room was pretty small. It only had six bunk beds and a table in the center of the room. On the table was a note from Kricketune.

Aamira picked it up and read it out loud. "'Hello new members. I am Kricketune the housekeeper. Until we get the kind of beds that you're used to sleeping in, you'll have to sleep in bunk beds. Work starts at dawn and only ends after you've completed a mission. Also, you won't be official members until you complete your first mission. At that time, your room will be turned into the sort of room that you're used to sleeping in.' Great. This should be fun." Aamira looked around the room. "I call the top bunk next to the window!"

Gengar had already fallen asleep on the bottom bunk of one of the other beds and Machop and Nuzleaf were arguing over the top and bottom bunk for the other bed.

Aamira stared sadly out the window at the starlit sky. It wasn't that she was sad to be back. In fact it was great. But it sort of felt like this was the beginning again. It felt like they would have to redo everything that's already happened. Or was it just a feeling? Then again, maybe Aamira was just paranoid at this point.

'It really does feel like an entirely different world.' She thought. 'Maybe it is a different world. Either way, at least by coming here we're all starting off again on even footing. So I guess for now all I really have to worry about is what our mission will be tomorrow…'


	2. Chapter 2 Bounty Hunters

There was fire all around. Aamira couldn't see anything but the flames and the burning buildings. Then came a voice in the distance. "How could you do this! I thought you were my friend!"

Aamira didn't know what was going on. She fell to her knees and put her hands on her head. "What's happening to me!"

Aamira woke up in the same position that she had fallen asleep in. She was shaking In her mind she could still hear the roar of the fire. But whose voice had that been? Quill's? No, it sounded a little older than Quill's. Lucario's? No, Lucario's voice was a lot deeper than the one she had heard.

Aamira tried to sit up and immediately grabbed her left arm, which was in a lot of pain. 'Real smart on my part to fall asleep on my left arm. But I always fall asleep facing the window. Maybe I'll just have to get used to it.'

Then Aamira suddenly wondered, was it the dream that had woken her up, or the shouting coming from behind her? Aamira turned around and sat up in her bed. Machop and Nuzleaf were fighting, of course, and Quill and Gengar were making a ruckus trying to get them to stop.

"You know, a lot of people like to sleep past five in the morning…" Aamira said flatly to them.

"Now you've done it, you woke Aamira up!" Nuzleaf shouted at Machop.

"Me!" Machop said. "You were being just as loud as I was!"

"Can't the two of you both just be a little more considerate!" Quill snapped at them.

"Yea, and you yelling at the top of your lungs will really help!" Gengar snapped at Quill.

Aamira watched them argue for a few more seconds before yawning and nonchalantly hitting them with Aura Sphere, causing the four of them to fly back into the other two bunk beds. Aamira jumped down from her own top bunk and started walking towards the door. "Do me a favor and join me down stairs when the four of you can grow up a little."

"Looks like you three really did it this time." Machop said after Aamira walked out. "Her temper never wakes up this early in the morning."

"You know it would be nice if for once in your life you could take just a little responsibility!" Quill snapped at him.

"It's obvious that something's really troubling Aamira isn't it?" Nuzleaf said. "She always gets really serious whenever something's on her mind."

"I don't think that's it at all." Quill said.

"If you're such a genius, why don't you tell us what's going on?" Gengar snapped at Quill.

"Okay, listen." He said. "I haven't even told Aamira this yet, but I haven't been able to feel her emotions since she disappeared two months ago. But since I used to be able to feel her emotions, I probably understand Aamira more than anyone else, especially you two, Machop and Nuzleaf. Right after Aamira reappears we all have to move here to continue being an Investigation Team. And right away we're all forced to share a room. Between you two fighting over her and everything else all the time, Gengar's jokes that often go too far, and me admittedly caring too much, Aamira's probably all stressed. So with that on top of everything else that's happened and even her being the only girl member of the team, of course she would lose her temper like that!"

"So when'd you become such a know it all anyway?" Machop said.

Quill groaned and walked towards the door. "You're hopeless. Do whatever you want, but I'm going to find Aamira."

"I thought you said that you caring too much was one of the things that was stressing her out." Nuzleaf sneered.

"So why don't you come too so it won't seem like I care too much!" Quill turned and left and the other three reluctantly followed, more quietly than seemed possible for them.

They found Aamira in the café when she was finishing up breakfast. "It's about time you got here." She said. "So what do you think our mission will be?"

"Uh… I don't know." Quill said. 'Wow, has she really gotten over everything just like that?'

"By the way, Typhlosion says he wants to talk with you when we get back from the mission."

Quill couldn't hide his excitement. Did Typhlosion even know that Quill knew he was his dad? He supposed Typhlosion must know or he wouldn't have asked to talk to Quill.

"Well shouldn't we get going?" Quill asked. "That note said we had to be ready to go by dawn."

All of them made their way, somewhat awkwardly, up to the main part of the building where all of the teams and the rest of the staff were running around in a hurry to start the day. Electivire was waiting for them over by the front desk.

"About time you all got here!" He said energetically. "Nuzleaf and Gengar, today the two of you will be working for our research division. To my knowledge there are some missing components to a new machine they're working on that they need you to find. Go meet up with Eevee and he'll fill you in."

"Heh, no problem!" Nuzleaf said.

"This should be good!" Gengar said excitedly. The two of them ran off towards Eevee's lab.

"And that leaves you three, Aamira, Quill, and Machop. I'd like you to meet a very important pokemon." Electivire gestured to a purple-grey catlike pokemon to his right. Her paws and legs were covered in scratches and bruises and she was surrounded by a few other pokemon who were each looking suspiciously at Team Sleuth. "This is Glameow. And the reason she's so important is because she's the princess of Silex, the rock country across the sea. Your mission today will be to escort her to Tempestas, the electric country."

"Escorting a princess?" Machop said with a strange gleam in his eyes. "Well that's not so bad!"

"Don't make me slap you…" Aamira said flatly to Machop.

Glameow looked over the three of them. "They don't look very strong. I've heard the stories about them, but I'm not really convinced that they're all that. I'm supposed to trust my life in their paws?"

"Hey, we're a lot stronger than we look." Quill's face turned red from embarrassment.

"I'll believe that when I see it, rodent!" Glameow hissed at him.

Quill froze up and couldn't think of a reply to this.

"Hey!" Aamira said to Glameow. "If you don't think we're strong enough, we won't escort you! Good luck getting to Tempestas all alone. Being some pampered princess I'm sure every pokemon you meet along the way wouldn't mind trying their luck in a battle with you. Or maybe you would want us to prove how strong we are?"

Electivire shot warning glances at Aamira, but Glameow had actually started to smile. "Now THAT'S more like it! But why not demonstrate your power on the way there? You'd be wasting your energy by taking out whatever problems you might have on me."

"Yea, so what's this mission about anyway?" Quill asked, obviously feeling a bit braver after Aamira defended him.

"Isn't it obvious?" Glameow asked. "Every country has a kingdom and to ensure peace between rival countries, sometimes members of the royal families will marry to unite the two countries. I just hope whoever this prince charming is isn't real full of himself or anything…"

"You're getting married?" Aamira asked. "And to someone you've never met?"

Glameow shrugged. "So what? I don't really care. Whether I'm in Silex or Tempestas I'll still have my servants to do whatever I want them to do for me."

'We're supposed to escort this spoiled little brat?' Aamira could barely keep from saying this out loud. "You can't be that pampered if you're all covered in scratches."

"Yea, well it wasn't exactly easy getting here. They couldn't carry me or anything since they were watching for danger, so I actually had to walk!"

"Now listen!" Electivire said more sternly than they had heard them talk so far. "My informants from the other countries tell me that Silex and Tempestas are on the verge of war! The only thing keeping them at peace at the moment is the future marriage of Glameow and the prince of Tempestas! Basically, don't screw this up or there will be an all out war!"

"You're joking right?" Machop said. "We're not even a part of this organization yet and the fate of two countries is already in our hands?"

"Yep. Pretty much." Electivire said.

"I didn't know you could actually talk like that." Aamira said to Machop. "You're not writing love poems, are you!"

Machop didn't answer for a while. "No, of course not…"

Glameow snickered at Aamira and Machop. "Anyway, shouldn't we get going?" Glameow walked out before any of them could even say anything.

The four of them walked in silence for a while, except for Glameow who kept complaining about her aching paws. Finally Quill spoke up.

"So why do you need an Investigation Team to guard you anyway?" He asked. "Don't all of the kingdoms have their own private Investigation Teams?"

"I need the best and unfortunately, the three of you are it." Glameow said to them. "Okay, listen. A lot of royalty with our more sophisticated lifestyle usually get fears of the outside world. I'm not one of those people and it's gotten me into a lot of trouble, apparently. Now there are a bunch of bounty hunters after me."

"Wait, bounty hunters?" Aamira asked.

"Bad guys." Quill said. "Remember? Charmeleon used to be one. He kidnapped Oddish to lure some Investigation Teams in and ask for a high bounty for their return. Good thing he's on our side now."

"Great, I'm traveling with friends of a bounty hunter… Things can't get much worse than this…" Glameow said, obviously to herself, but didn't bother keeping her voice down.

"So these bounty hunters pretty much go around kidnapping people and asking for a ransom?" Aamira asked.

"Not always." Quill said. "We didn't get a lot of this in Silva, but there are a bunch of underground organizations all around the world. They'll ask bounty hunters to get them someone they believe is worth a lot, then pay the bounty hunters when they catch the person they're after. But after that they usually turn around and offer an even higher ransom for the person they kidnapped."

"That's horrible." Aamira said. "It's like they think pokemon are just a bunch of trading cards or something."

"It's probably a good way to make money, which is why so many actually do it, but it's just wrong. Things get even worse when something called a Hunter War breaks out."

"I'm starting to have my doubts about this!" Glameow said angrily. "One of you thinks being a bounty hunter would be a good way to make money, one of you doesn't know what they are, and the other one keeps staring at me and hasn't said anything this whole time!"

Aamira ignored her. "So what's a Hunter War?"

Quill hesitated. Obviously the thought of a Hunter War was really horrible. "Well the people that run these underground organizations would obviously be really important if they're in charge of a bunch of bounty hunters plus they're usually rich beyond rich, so the leaders from other organizations would ask their bounty hunters to capture other leaders so they could get the ransom. Any leader that can catch another leader automatically gets their popularity increased so then other organizations start trying to catch them."

"So it really leads to an all out war?" Aamira asked.

"Yup. During those times it gets easier for the police to catch the more clever bounty hunters, but anyone who can automatically gets their bounty raised too if they didn't already have one before."

"And here I thought only criminals could have bounties." Aamira said. "I'm guessing ours would be pretty high considering we got Charmeleon to stop being a bounty hunter and we saved the world."

"And that's not even the worst part. Eventually one of them might end up with most of the other organization's leaders prisoner and if that happens then there's a kind of respect for the last pokemon standing. All the organizations start to join up and for a long time that causes a lot of chaos for everyone else with all the bounty hunters working together. But it's not long before they start to pick their friends and form their own groups within the organization. The groups start out as friendly rivals, at least as friendly as they can get being bounty hunters, but eventually turmoil starts to build and they start trying to capture members from other groups and eventually the organization breaks up into separate ones again. It's like a never ending cycle of chaos."

"That's not the worst part." Glameow said. "Each group wants to be stronger. So a lot of times they'll buy out other organizations. There isn't much trust between bounty hunters and the higher ups because of this though, so the organizations are always full of violence. And you know about the rumors that have been going around?"

"Oh yea…" Quill said. "It's just horrible. I hope it's not true."

"What is it?" Aamira couldn't imagine anything that could be worse.

"The fighting circuit." It was the first time Machop had spoken since they left. "They capture unsuspecting pokemon and make them fight against their rival's captured pokemon in tournaments. The only way to get out of it is to fight. Whoever comes out on top gets their freedom. Although sometimes they'll let their prisoners go if they do something better than win a tournament."

"Like defeating a nosy Investigation Team leader?" Aamira said with a sudden understanding. "You were one of them, weren't you? And Ditto was a bounty hunter."

"Yea." Machop said. "He would only let me go if I could defeat a strong Investigation Team member. He thought that a Riolu was bound to be strong but he didn't know that you had never really had any proper training. When I defeated you, and nearly killed you, he let me go so I went to join Team Sleuth to make up for it. Not that I've been really useful."

Aamira felt like she had just met a new person. "Is that why you like me so much? You think I saved you?"

Machop didn't say anything about it, though he seemed sort of surprised that Aamira hadn't said that in her usual harsh tone. "I want to be worthy of being in this team. And I definitely don't want to see another person captured by a bounty hunter. Last night Eevee said I was too weak to evolve. I want to get stronger so I can fight against bounty hunters."

Glameow stopped and bowed slightly to Machop. "I am so glad that at least one of you knows what we're really up against. Since you're the only one of us whose experienced this first hand, I trust you with my life."

Machop seemed ashamed of himself, probably because he had never told them about the bounty hunters. He nodded to Glameow and kept walking.

In the first day, they were able to cover most of the plains that covered Pacis. They passed by a small town, and eventually made it to a forest at the base of the mountains.

"Tempestas should be just over the next few mountains." Quill said.

"We're going OVER the mountains?" Glameow said, obviously scared of just the idea of having to go over all of these mountains.

"Maybe we should stop to rest." Aamira said. "One of us might actually have to carry Glameow if she gets too tired."

"Rest? Here?" Glameow said. "You're not serious, are you? Where are the beds?"

"This is the outdoors." Quill said. "There aren't any beds."

"Well can't we just backtrack and stop at that town we passed through?" Glameow asked.

"It's too far away. It would be midnight by the time we got there."

Glameow groaned. "I guess I'll just try to find a soft clump of dirt to sleep on."

Quill lit a fire and, in spite of Glameow's complaining, she fell asleep unbelievably fast. The three of them stayed up for a while talking about what the bounty hunters might really be like. Machop told them about the gruesomeness of the bounty hunters he had witnessed first hand. Quill started to look through his bag.

"Looks like we're running low on some items." Quill said.

"I could go back to that town we passed through to buy some." Machop said. "I should be back by morning."

"You don't mind?" Quill asked. "Alright then. But get back as soon as possible. There's safety in numbers you know."

Machop nodded and ran off. Quill turned to Aamira. "Why don't you try getting some sleep? I'll stay up and keep a lookout."

Aamira didn't argue. She was tired and Quill still seemed wide awake.

Aamira ran as fast as she could. All around there were flames, getting higher with each passing second. She ran towards the edge of the city.

"Quill! Where are you?" Finally she spotted him. She ran towards him, glad to finally have found one of her friends.

Quill suddenly turned to her, obviously furious. "How could you do this? I thought you were my friend!"

Aamira woke up suddenly. Quill? No, it definitely wasn't his voice. Not Lucario's either. Aamira tried to shake the thought from her mind. It definitely wasn't a voice she remembered.

"Hey, you alright?" It was Glameow. "You were practically screaming in your sleep."

"Was I?" Aamira asked. "What are you doing up."

"I woke up and noticed that sleeping beauty had fallen asleep on his watch, so I thought I'd better stay awake." She said.

"Oh." Aamira sat up and yawned.

"So what were you dreaming about?" Glameow asked.

"I keep having the same dream. There are burning buildings all around and I'm running to try to escape the fire. I finally find a friend of mine and he keeps saying, 'How could you do this? I thought you were my friend.'"

"Which friend was it?"

"Not sure. I keep thinking it's Quill, but it just seems like that's not right. It's just the feeling I get anyway. And his voice is a little different too."

Glameow's ears drooped slightly. "You know, if you can't get that out of your head you'll just keep having the same dream."

"How do I do that?" Aamira asked.

"I've actually been here once before. A little ways away from here is this amazing lake. Some people think a legendary pokemon lives in it. And I'm sure that the one time I came here I saw it. It was almost like a ghost floating above the water. I heard its voice, it sounded like a mournful song, then it disappeared back into the lake. You have no idea how calming it was."

"So you think maybe if I go there it will help to clear my head?"

"Sure. I can take you there."

"But aren't you worried about bounty hunters?"

"You can't be serious. A big tough Investigation Team member's afraid of some bounty hunters? I thought you've battled some before. Or maybe you're just scared now that you know what they're really like."

Aamira scowled at her. "Seems to me that you really want to see that lake again. Alright, fine. But we come back in half an hour at the most."

"Oh, fine." Glameow walked off and Aamira followed her.

The lake was really relaxing. It almost seemed like Lake Harmony, except without all of the flowers. Glameow was so excited that she actually jumped into the lake, and splashed Aamira while doing so. She came back out of the water laughing, but Aamira just looked annoyed.

"What's wrong?" Glameow said. "Think it's too weird for a cat pokemon to like water?"

"No, that's not that." Aamira sat on the edge of the lake. "It's just something that's been bothering me ever since… well, for a while now."

"What is it? That dream?"

"No, it's something else." Aamira sighed and looked down at the water. "Okay, so I'll admit that I act a little tomboyish sometimes…" Glameow raised an eyebrow at these words. "Okay, most of the time. But lately it's just seemed… stressful, I guess, to be the only girl member of the team."

"Boys can sometimes seem as though they come from different worlds." Glameow said as if that settled everything.

'It's more like I came from a different world.' Aamira thought.

"I've been going through the same thing though." Glameow sat down on the edge of the lake. "No one really understands you and they don't seem to really care until you give them a clue. And, since boys are usually so bigheaded, I'm guessing they think they always need to protect you."

Aamira turned to Glameow. "Yes! Exactly!"

"We're not so different, you know?" Glameow purred slightly. "I've had to grow up around mostly boys. In spite of who you think I am, I haven't had much kindness growing up either. Parents always busy, no friends, and a bunch of brothers thinking that they're better just because they're older than me. The two of us… I think we need to look out for each other."

"You really think that?" Aamira looked back out over the lake.

"What do you mean?"

"There are just a few things I don't get." Aamira said. "Like when we first met you said that you got scratched up because you had to walk to Pacis, but your escorts didn't have a scratch on them. And it's pretty strange how, after only a few hours, some of those scratched have already scarred over." Glameow didn't say anything. "And then a while after we left, you seemed a bit hesitant around us after we mentioned one of our friends used to be a bounty hunter, but after Quill was talking about what the worst part was you obviously didn't agree and didn't hesitate to jump in and tell us what the real worst part was. But how would you have even known?"

Glameow stood up quickly. "My dad's a king! I hear about everything that happens!"

Aamira stared at her, obviously surprised, for a second before looking back at the lake. "All this Investigation Team stuff must really be making me paranoid. I hope I didn't offend you."

Glameow sat back down. "No, not at all."

"That's good. What was I thinking? Everything has a logical explanation. Like how you knew Quill was the one who was supposed to be on guard. I'm guessing you're just a psychic."

"What do you mean?" There was something in Glameow's voice. Fear, maybe?

"There was no way you could have known. You fell asleep before Quill volunteered to take the first watch and woke up after we had both fallen asleep. The only way you could have known would be if you were awake sometime during the night." Aamira stood up and faced Glameow. "Everything has a logical explanation…"

"Wake up already!" Machop shouted at Quill.

Quill woke up groggily and stared up at Machop. "What time is it?"

"Forget about that!" Machop said while waving a piece of paper in his hand. "Where are Aamira and Glameow?"

Quill looked around. "I dunno… Maybe they just went for a walk?"

"Yea maybe." Machop handed Quill the paper he was holding. "Look at this. I found it in town!"

Quill read what was on the paper. "A wanted poster? '10,000 poke reward for the capture of known bounty hunter, Glameow. Often seen with scratches on her legs and paws and with regularly sharpened claws.' What? Glameow's a bounty hunter!"


	3. Chapter 3 An Enemy Returns

Glameow walked through the forest, slowed by carrying an unconscious Riolu on her back. In spite of this she moved as quickly as she could. 'That didn't turn out exactly how I thought it would.' She thought. 'I was supposed to catch both of them, and Machop probably would have been a good bonus. I guess one is better than none, but if I don't hurry her friends will catch up…'

Aamira groaned and muttered something indistinct in her sleep. Glameow ignored it and kept walking. Her Hypnosis couldn't be wearing off already; Quill had been knocked out for hours before Aamira had woken up, so she wasn't worried.

'I still wish I could have gone back for Quill, but then Machop had to show up and he was still awake. I guess it was just lucky Quill was so out of it that it gave me a few minutes head start.' Glameow sighed. It felt like she had been walking for hours, which was actually pretty likely.

"Wow, didn't think you'd even catch one of them." Another pokemon came out from the shadows, smirking evilly.

"It's about time you showed up, Mightyena!" Glameow hissed at him. "I've had to travel with Team Sleuth all the way from Pacis! They're so annoying! I don't see what the big deal is about them!"

Mightyena's smirk faded. "They saved the world, you know? A lot of people think they must have some secret ability or something that makes them really powerful, you know?"

"Yea? I think they're just way too overestimated. Quill's nothing but a hotheaded know it all, Machop's been captured by bounty hunters before, Opal by the sound of it, and clams up at the mere mention of them. This one's different though."

"Figured out who you were, did she?" Mightyena smirked again.

Glameow shot a poisonous look at him that made him shudder. "You knew that would happen! You set me up to see me blow it, didn't you? Maybe even to get myself arrested?"

Mightyena whimpered slightly. "N-No! Of course not! You're the dearest princess of Black Wing. If you were ever captured… Oh what a tragedy that would be! I suspect Father would be frantic. Would probably risk anything to help you break out."

Glameow laughed at Mightyena for a moment. "That's better. Not very mighty after all, are you? Well, go on. Why don't you carry her for a while?"

Quill and Machop had been looking for hours and still no sign of Aamira or Glameow. Both of them were starting to get worried. Especially Machop, who knew what it was like to be caught by the bounty hunters.

"What if we can't find them?" Machop said.

"We will." Quill said confidently.

"Maybe we should just call for help." Machop said even more hopelessly than before.

"We'll find them! Come on, Aamira can take care of herself and even if we do get separated some times, we always end up back together in the end."

Machop didn't reply, but it was obvious that nothing Quill said could possibly assure him that everything would turn out alright.

"Look, I don't think it's anything Aamira couldn't handle. Even if you described them half as bad as they really are, I'm sure Aamira will be fine."

"But there were a few things I left out." Machop said. "Remember when I said that they make pokemon fight to see which organizations are best? Well sometimes they do it just for fun."

"So why don't the pokemon being forced to fight just refuse to do anything?"

"You just can't. Most of the pokemon they've captured have gone mad. Some of them don't even want to leave when they start learning to love fighting. Most of them will attack any opponent without hesitation. And if, by some chance, both pokemon refuse to fight, they'll be severely attacked by all of the bounty hunters at once. It's horrible I tell you. They scare you with their superior numbers and do horrible things to mess with your mind too. Like taunt you about the friends and family you'll never see again unless you fight." Machop's voice shook slightly.

Quill shivered slightly at the thought. Would Aamira want to get away so much that she would be alright with attacking innocent pokemon? 'She might…' Quill wasn't really sure. 'I'm sure she would be reluctant, but if it came down to it I'm sure she would fight.'

They walked for a while longer with nothing particularly interesting happening. Then, without warning, a Bullet Seed was fired at them. Machop had been lucky enough to notice and pushed Quill out of the way. Within seconds the two of them were surrounded by a group of pokemon. An Ursaring walked towards them followed by a Teddiursa.

"Now what do we have here?" Teddiursa said. "Hey big brother, are these two any good?"

Ursaring held up a book he was holding and looked through it. "Looks like we've found ourselves a good catch. That Machop used to be one of Opal's and that Cyndaquil's the leader of a pretty good team if I'm not mistaken. We'll be hard to beat with these two."

Aamira woke up in what seemed like a dimly lit room. She looked around, somewhat confused, and noticed that there weren't only bars on the door, but her hands were chained together. She ran towards the door and started pulling on the bars and trying to open the door, but nothing worked.

'Well what was I expecting?' She thought angrily. 'That they would just happen to forget to lock the door?'

She noticed that the door didn't have a handle. That meant it must have locked automatically from the outside and it wouldn't have been possible for anyone to forget to lock it.

Aamira groaned, mad at herself for letting Glameow get the better of her, and sat in one of the corners. What now? She tested the chains binding her hands together, but they wouldn't break. Even the technique Lucario had shown her that allowed her to slip out of chains such as these, which had once been useful when dealing with a group of pirates, wasn't any help. So all she could do was wait for something to happen?

As if someone had read her mind, the lock on the door clicked. Aamira stood up automatically and Glameow walked into the room.

"You…" Aamira hissed under her breath.

"Me." Glameow said with a smirk. "I'd give you the tour, but I don't want you to see too much."

"What do you want?" Aamira asked.

"I'm sure you didn't know this, but among bounty hunters, you and Quill combined have got a 13,000,000 poke bounty. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get Quill so it's cut in half, but that's still more than should be allowed. But I'm not complaining seeing as how I get the money. But there's another problem on my paws that I'm hoping you'll help us with. You see, we usually end up picking all the weaklings to come in here to battle and we keep losing to Honey, a rival organization. It's just not right. But you might be able to go all the way. And if you do, we'll let you go."

"If there's a bounty on me, what's keeping me from waiting here until someone pays up?" Aamira said.

"Well, you don't really have much of a choice in the matter, I'm afraid. But if you don't want to, I guess I can always take you to Father to see what he has to say about it." Aamira figured that this "Father" person was more like the leader rather than an actual father.

"Glameow, stop wasting time!" Someone said from outside the door. "You know everyone wants to see what this one can do."

"It can't be time already." Glameow said. "Oh fine." She attacked so suddenly that Aamira hadn't seen it coming. A blindfold was put over her eyes and more pokemon who were waiting outside all led Aamira somewhere. They seemed to be walking for hours, but finally they stopped and the other pokemon undid the chains binding her hands and took off the blindfold.

She was in the middle of a circle of excited pokemon, all with some sort of scars or injuries from fights they had been in. All of them were shouting excitedly. Near one end of the circle were a few pokemon who were undoing the chains on a Tyrogue and taking of his blindfold.

'I can't believe they would really do this…' Aamira said. 'This is just… barbaric.'

Tyrogue looked terrified. Aamira realized that he was only a little kid and probably wasn't even that strong. Did they actually think she would fight him? Tyrogue didn't do anything but stand there. Aamira couldn't fight him. Instead she just sat on the ground. Lucario had told her once that it was what you were supposed to do if you refused to fight.

After a while the shouts became angry. The other pokemon started to attack the two of them. One of them used Overheat on Tyrogue, but Aamira ran towards him and shielded him from the attack. Tyrogue was crying and trembling from head to foot. Aamira could practically feel how hopeless he felt. After a while a few pokemon grabbed Tyrogue and Aamira, and chained them up and blindfolded them again. Some pokemon led Aamira away like before, but it was obvious that they were still mad at her refusal to fight.

They pushed her roughly and she landed on the ground. She heard a lock click somewhere and knew they must've thrown her back into the same cell as earlier. Aamira struggled to get up and walked blindly into the wall and sat down against it. She had never been this scared before, not even when she was Mismagius's prisoner. In fact, this seemed like the sort of thing Mismagius would have enjoyed.

After a while the door opened and Glameow stormed in. Aamira didn't even bother getting up this time because of the burns Overheat left her with.

"I thought I made it clear that you had no choice, and you still didn't fight?" She shouted. "I almost didn't want to have to do this, but this means I'm going to have to take you to our leader."

"You 'almost' didn't want to? What does that mean?" Aamira asked.

"I guess because I pity you. If he gives you half the hospitality he gives most others… Oh that would really be something to see either way." Glameow put a chain around Aamira's neck and led her back out of the room.

It seemed to have taken even longer to get to wherever it was they were going this time. But finally, after who know's how long, someone pushed her into the chair and Aamira heard someone tying the chain on her neck to the chair.

"This is the one we've been having problems with." An unfamiliar voice said. "Unlike most of the others, this one seems especially defiant. It doesn't seem to be as scared as the others and it refused to fight. And it seems to think it's free to ask questions whenever it feels like it."

Being called "it" so many times was almost unnerving. At that moment Aamira almost hoped that Glameow was still there. Aamira hated her, but she was the only person she actually knew there. Aamira suddenly felt alone and more scared than before, whether the stranger talking knew it or not.

"You say this one's not scared?" A horribly familiar voice said. "I don't believe it. I can smell her fear."

Aamira growled slightly, whether instinctively or out of hate she didn't really know.

The voice laughed. "You recognize my voice, do you? Take the blindfold off. I want to have this conversation face to face."

Someone, Aamira didn't know who, took her blindfold off. She was surrounded by at least a dozen pokemon, all male Mightyena who she figured were the "brothers" that Glameow had mentioned before. Most of them had kept silent that whole time, but Aamira didn't pay any attention to them. Instead she looked at their leader.

"Honchkrow…"

Honchkrow smirked. "I'm honored. Such a prestigious Investigation Team member actually remembers me!" The smiled faded. "But I didn't quite enjoy being knocked out and left in that dungeon. So, do you think this is good enough for my revenge?"

"What, taking Shadow wasn't good enough!" Aamira roared. One of the pokemon to her right used Flamethrower and most of Aamira's right side was burned.

"I didn't tell you that you could speak." Honchkrow said as if she were just being a bad little kid.

"Yea? Well didn't you just ask me a question?"

Honchkrow used Night Slash on Aamira, causing her to freeze up for a minute. "I understand what Mightyena meant now. You're just too defiant for your own good." Honchkrow walked a little closer to Aamira. "Just like Shadow in a way." Oh if only Aamira wasn't tied down… "So now you're down to one little brother? It would be a shame if something happened to him."

"Leave him out of this!" Aamira cringed waiting for one of them to attack her again, but instead they just laughed. Aamira opened her eyes and saw Honchkrow smiling horribly.

"I think we're starting to understand each other. Quill could be attacked at any time and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. You can't escape and you can't fight us all at once. Here you only have as much power as anyone gives you." His smile became even more horrible. "In fact, I don't think I'm even going to ask for a ransom from Electivire. Instead, you can just stay here and do whatever I tell you to. And if you do anything I don't agree with, Quill will be the one to suffer."

Aamira was shaking horribly in a mixture of hatred and fear. She closed her eyes, which were full of tears and tried not to listen to the laughing of the other pokemon. How could anyone be this cruel to another living person?

Aamira laid in the corner of the cell a few hours later, hating the world and worrying what would happen next. 'What if I never figure out a way to get out of here?' Then, suddenly furious with herself, she shook the idea from her head. 'That's what they want me to think. I'm only as much of a prisoner as I think I am. Why am I letting these mind tricks get to me? I'm not even sure if he was serious about keeping me here or if he was serious about hurting Quill.' If only Aamira could convince herself. The situation seemed hopeless whatever way she looked at it.

"Care to tell me what's wrong?"

Aamira looked around. She wasn't in the cell anymore. In fact, it didn't seem like she was anywhere. It seemed to be just a bunch of color in every direction. But then Aamira jumped at a familiar sight and struggled to find her voice.

"Lu… Lucario?"

Lucario nodded. "Now you have to tell me, you didn't go looking for the Aura Scepter and accidentally seal yourself in, did you?"

"No, of course not…" Aamira looked around. "This is just a dream, right?"

Lucario laughed. "If it was, could I do this?" Lucario swiped Aamira's feet and tripped her.

Aamira fell painfully on her left arm, which still hurt from the scars. "Okay, this isn't a dream!" Lucario laughed again. Aamira couldn't help smiling at a familiar face. "Or… maybe it is a dream. Sometimes I have dreams that seem like dreams but they're not really dreams. Does that make sense?"

"Not really… I get what you're saying though." Lucario said. "So if this is one of your dreams, why are you here?"

"I don't know. I don't know why I would be here if I were awake. Maybe because of my eyes? They've looked like a Lucario's for a couple of days now."

"That might be it. But that wasn't really what I was asking. Why are you HERE?"

It took Aamira a minute to realize what Lucario was saying. "Oh, um… I'm not exactly sure. I just reappeared by Shroud Lake yesterday. With these strange scars on my arms." Aamira took the bandages on her arm and Lucario flinched when he saw them.

"What could've caused that?"

"I don't know. But obviously I didn't exactly disappear. But what then? I say goodbye to Quill, everything goes dark, and I wake up two months later without remembering a thing."

"Two months? Has it really been that long?"

"Yea, can't you tell?"

Lucario shook his head. "Here time and space are nothing. We'll just stay here this way forever."

Then Aamira realized that Lucario wasn't the only one there. "Where's Mismagius?"

"Off sulking again probably. That's all she ever seems to do. Sometimes she loses her temper and attacks me, but she doesn't seem to be as strong as usual. You know what I think? Maybe she wasn't as evil before and being trapped in here the first time made her insane."

"You really think so?" Aamira thought about telling Lucario what she saw in the Looking Glass after he had been sealed in the Aura Scepter, but decided not to.

"So if you're here, maybe that means you're in some kind of trouble?" Lucario asked.

Aamira sighed. She had almost forgotten. "Yea, it's horrible right now. Have you ever heard of bounty hunters?"

Lucario nodded. "Start a Hunter War? Or… Wait, you weren't captured were you?"

Aamira nodded. "I don't know how I could have let it happen! But now I'm stuck here and I'm going to be forced to fight or Quill will get hurt."

"I would have thought that they would just ask for a ransom. Surely it's pretty high after saving the world?"

"Yea it is, but their leader doesn't care. He just wants to keep me here for revenge. Can you guess who it is? It's Honchkrow."

"I always thought he must have some secret other life. If anything happened to Mismagius he would want a fallback, wouldn't he? And I guess now he's pretty mad that we left him unconscious in a dungeon and got rid of his best gig, huh? He always was the ambitious type; I should've known that he would be into something like this."

"So, what can I do?" Aamira couldn't help it. She burst into tears without any warning.

"Hey, come on. You're acting more like the little kid I used to know. You're pretty smart, so I'm sure you could figure it out."

"I've never felt this scared or helpless before…"

"I know it's hard. The bounty hunters are the cruelest people in that world. But for now, maybe you should fight. Some of the pokemon there have gone mad. They can't wait for the next fight. If you don't fight, you could end up seriously hurt or worse."

Aamira nodded.

"Get up already! You've had your rest!"

Aamira woke up and looked around for who it was that was yelling. It was Honchkrow.

"You remember our deal, don't you?" he said in a cruel voice. "Well I'm giving you another chance. We're putting you up against one of our stronger pokemon to see how you do."

"And what if I lose?" Aamira was dreading the answer.

"If you lose, you just go hungry today. Lose on purpose and Quill will pay." Honchkrow walked out and Aamira reluctantly followed.

Whether that dream was real or not or even if it was another one of their mind tricks, Aamira didn't really care. She didn't have much of a choice anyway, so she would have to fight.


	4. Chapter 4 Fight or Flight

Some of the bounty hunters took the chains off of Aamira's arms. Before she had just been surrounded by the bounty hunters but now she appeared to be in some sort of miniature stadium. On the opposite end a bunch of the bounty hunters were struggling to keep a wild looking Scizor from breaking free and attacking before they got the chains off.

'At least this Scizor isn't like that Tyrogue. This I have no problem with, but if they try to get me to fight some scared little kid again.' Aamira shivered. To her that was a scarier thought than having to fight this Scizor.

The bounty hunters were finally able to get the chains off of the struggling Scizor. Scizor didn't even wait for half a second before running in to attack. Aamira knew that Scizor were supposed to be fast, but she had never actually seen how fast they could get. Aamira used Aura Sphere, but the Scizor was actually able to dodge it by using Double Team. Then it attacked her from behind with Metal Claw.

'It would have helped if they hadn't sent be into this fight injured!' Aamira thought furiously. Scizor had hit her on her burnt back from when one of the pokemon had attacked her earlier for refusing to fight.

Aamira got up just in time to dodge another attack. Scizor used Double Team again, no doubt trying to confuse her, but while that had worked before to dodge Aamira's attack Aamira knew exactly where the real Scizor was. She ran at Scizor and used Drain punch, knocking him into the wall. The pain in her back had mostly gone away, at least, but this was sickening. All these pokemon cheering them on and throwing insults at them to get them to fight harder. Aamira decided that when she got out of there she would definitely start taking a bigger role in tracking down bounty hunters.

Scizor got up and attacked with Quick Attack. Aamira waited for it to get close enough, which was risky considering how fast it moved, and used Aura Sphere again. This time Scizor didn't have enough time to react and got hit by it. Scizor was obviously getting mad, but because Aamira had a type advantage she was winning. Scizor used Quick Attack again and was already so close to Aamira that she didn't have time to dodge. Then Scizor used Metal Claw. Aamira was able to stop herself before she was thrown into the wall then used Force Palm.

Scizor seemed to be slightly dizzy from the attack and began attacking randomly with Metal Claw. Aamira dodged most of the attacks easily before using drain punch again. Scizor was struggling to stand up, but he just couldn't. Some of the bounty hunters ran towards him and chained him up again.

Honchkrow flew into the air and landed in front of Aamira. "Now that's more like it." He said with an evil grin. Aamira didn't say anything. She knew what would happen if she did.

Aamira sat in her prison cell a few minutes later, unable to believe what she had done. But if she didn't fight they would hurt Quill. Aamira hated this trapped feeling and the feeling that she was all alone. But then her spirits lifted a little. What were the odds that Aamira would have a dream about Lucario when she felt most alone and after Lucario had promised not to leave her alone? Surely it had to have been more than a dream.

Scizor had obviously been driven mad by this place, but if Aamira could just think about Lucario and try to look at the bright side of things, she wouldn't be as much of a prisoner. But a bright side? Well, Honchkrow was sure she wouldn't try to escape since it might mean that Quill could get hurt, so they had at least taken the chains off. Although they had left the metal collar around her neck from when Glameow had taken her to see Honchkrow, either to make her look more intimidating to the pokemon she was fighting or because they were still afraid she might try something.

Honchkrow and Glameow had been waiting almost twenty minutes for his "guests" to arrive. Honey and Black Wing, two rival bounty hunter groups, were some of the best groups there were. Besides that they had been fierce rivals since before Honchkrow took over Black Wing. But now that he had a secret weapon, there was no way he could lose like the last time. This time they would know once and for all who the top bounty hunter was.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Honchy." A deep voice said through the trees.

"It's about time you got here!" Honchkrow said. "Fashionably late as usual, I see!"

An Ursaring came into the clearing followed by a Teddiursa. The Teddiursa yawned. "Sorry, I was still taking my nap by the time we had to leave."

Honchkrow couldn't understand how this little teddy bear was actually able to become second in command of one of the best bounty hunter organizations there was. He supposed it must be because their leader was Teddiursa's older brother.

"So, you ready to lose again?" Ursaring said to Honchkrow.

"You got lucky last time. This time we've got a secret weapon." Honchkrow smirked, but to his surprise, so did Ursaring.

"So do we. What are the odds of that, eh Honchy?"

Teddyursa giggled. "Hey Glameow, maybe when the fighting's over we can play with the toys I brought with me." Teddyursa was carrying a bag that was bulging with toys, but to Glameow's horror she noticed that something in it was moving slightly.

"Such a twisted child…" Glameow said, not bothering to keep her voice down.

"As if you were any different." Honchkrow said.

Glameow was furious. She couldn't believe that Honchkrow actually had the nerve to compare her to that Teddiursa! She walked through the caverns alone to try to get the thought out of her head. But while she tried to do that, another thought came to her. 'Team Sleuth never acted this way. At least they showed a little respect.' Glameow shook her head. 'Why am I thinking this way? I'm a bounty hunter, aren't I? One of the best in the world. People respect me, but they're just too afraid to show it!'

Honchkrow was different though. He was a better bounty hunter than she could ever be. He had no respect for her at all and probably wouldn't even care or notice if she was arrested. And there was something else too. Aamira! She had heard that Honchkrow had known her from before, but didn't believe it. But when Aamira had defeated Scizor, Glameow saw that it must be true. And not only that but he seemed to somewhat respect her! She was just a prisoner and Glameow was second in command, but Honchkrow still respected her more. It was as if this Riolu was a treasured pet and Glameow was just some random kid he found who was all alone who he decided on a whim, surely not out of the goodness of his heart, to take home and shelter from the rain.

'I knew that Riolu was trouble! Not only is she too defiant for her own good, but if this keeps up and she end up like most of the other pokemon that come in here, I might lose my second in command position! And if something were to happen to Quill or if she just stopped caring, she might even try to overthrow Honchkrow! And where would that leave me!'

But Aamira at least had been kind to Glameow, whether that was just an act or not to find out if she was a bounty hunter she didn't know. How could Glameow blame Aamira for everything that was happening?

'Why do I keep thinking this way! I don't need Honchkrow's approval to know how strong I am and I definitely don't need to care about what Aamira thinks about all of this, so why do I keep thinking this way!'

Glameow hid in a cavern that wasn't used. No one ever came down this way, so Glameow came here a lot to get away from everyone.

'I've been thinking this way all along.' She suddenly realized. 'That's why I always come down here. Maybe I'm just too fickle for my own good.'

Glameow decided that she shouldn't try to stop herself from thinking the way she was. Maybe that way she could figure out what to do. Glameow remembered the conversation she had with Aamira before she had kidnapped Aamira. Aamira was misunderstood a lot of the time, just like she was. Even though they were in completely different situations and Aamira actually had friends and got respect, they weren't really that different. Glameow had noticed it, and Aamira definitely did. Maybe that's why Aamira didn't say anything about Glameow being a bounty hunter before then. Maybe, for just a short moment, Aamira thought they could be friends? And Glameow secretly thought that too.

'I have to know for sure!' She decided. Glameow made her way towards the cell Aamira was locked in, trying to hide the excitement from herself. Glameow had changed, but now that she thought about it, she didn't really care.

She passed by Ursaring and Teddiursa. They hadn't noticed her, so she instinctively hid behind a corner to listen in on their conversation. Honchkrow had sent her on a lot of missions to spy on their enemies, so she was used to it and she was slightly ashamed of how naturally it came to her.

"So now you finally understand the situation here." Ursaring said.

"Y-yes…" Said an obviously terrified voice. It sounded familiar, but it didn't sound like Teddiursa's. Maybe there was another pokemon there that had been blocked from her view?

Teddiursa laughed. "Good! Now we'll definitely win! And if you do fail, we can assure you that you'll never see either one of your friends again!"

"I won't fail!" Obviously he was still terrified but he was trying to hide it. Then with a burst of panic, Glameow realized who the voice belonged to.

'Quill!' What was going on? Didn't Honchkrow know about this? But he was still threatening Aamira by saying that he would hurt Quill if she didn't fight. 'I can't believe this! I can't let this happen!'

Glameow ran the opposite way and took the long way around towards Aamira's cell. No one was around. That was good at least.

Aamira was half asleep. She figured that if she could fall asleep again, she would see Lucario again in her dream. Then she heard the lock click on the door and was fully awake again. She hated these people so much. Couldn't they at least let her rest for a while! Then with a mixture of hate and a strange happiness at the sight of someone she at least knew, she saw that the person who had come in was Glameow.

"So what do you want now?" Aamira asked. Honchkrow wasn't around so she wasn't afraid to talk now.

"I want to help, if you can believe it!" Glameow said in a half whispered voice. "Listen, Honchkrow was lying. Quill was captured by a rival group of bounty hunters. Honchkrow said that as long as you fight he wouldn't hurt Quill, but if they make Quill fight, he would have to anyway!"

"Big surprise. A lying bounty hunter." Aamira stood up. "So why should I believe that you're not lying about Quill being captured? You might just be trying to get me into trouble."

"Because if Honchkrow knew I came to tell you this before he even knew that Quill was going to fight for the rival group, I would be in worse trouble! And he would know he couldn't make you fight anymore. Either way, you have a choice now. Either fight or don't. Quill's going to get hurt either way."

"If you're so sure he's going to get hurt, then why not help us!"

"And how am I supposed to do that? I've already stuck my neck out enough for you just by telling you this much!"

"You're a traitor. The moment someone finds out about this… Do you really think they're going to let you off the hook? Honchkrow doesn't seem to like you in the slightest, so I really doubt it." Aamira was sort of taken aback when Glameow suddenly burst into tears.

"Of course he doesn't like me! What was your first clue? Even among bounty hunters I've never known anyone as cruel as him. Some of us are terrified to even do anything, so we take it out on others. But you were different. Even though you're an Investigation Team member and I'm a bounty hunter and we're supposed to be enemies, you and your friends were nice to me like no one else ever was. And you even knew I was a bounty hunter, but while we were at the lake…" Glameow stopped mid-sentence, surprised by her own outburst.

"You thought we could be friend." Aamira finished for her. "I thought so too. We're both a bit misunderstood and I think we both wanted to be friends, but when I told you I knew that you were a bounty hunter… I guess that was a mistake."

"I didn't think it would be possible that we could ever be friends. So I knocked you out and brought you here to prove it to myself. I finally realize that. I've just been lonely and mad at myself and everyone else but I didn't want to admit it so I just took it out on others."

"You know, Riolu are strange pokemon, I'll even admit that. A lot of people think we can see aura after we get a good teacher to train with, but that's not true. We can never see aura, but we can still feel it. Which means we can also tell whenever someone's lying."

Glameow was shocked. "You still think I'm lying!"

"No. For the first time since I met you, I'm sure that you're telling the truth!"

Glameow sighed. "So what do we do?"

"What do you think? We free all of the prisoners. If the bounty hunters want a fight, we'll give them one. They keep everyone weak by separating them and forcing them to fight, but together we might stand a chance."

Quill sat against the wall and watched Teddiursa chase around a Wurmple he had caught on the way there. It was like some horrible combination of cute and creepy. If it were possible, Teddiursa scared him even more than Ursaring.

But watching Teddyursa was admittedly better than thinking about everything that had happened. Machop and him had been captured, and Machop had sort of frozen up after that. But even worse was when Ursaring threatened to keep him a prisoner if he didn't fight so he would never be able to see his friends again. But Quill knew that Aamira had been captured by Black Wing, who he was about to be forced to fight against. That meant that Quill might actually be forced to fight Aamira. If only he could escape, but even now Ursaring was keeping an annoyingly close watch on him.

Where was Machop anyway? He knew he had been brought here too, but no doubt they were separated so they could be sure Quill would fight. So Quill really had no choice. And he even secretly wished that he would be forced to fight Aamira just so they could see each other again.

Teddiursa stopped suddenly just as he caught Wurmple by its tail. "Someone's coming."

Glameow came out from behind a corner. Quill glared at her. She was the reason that all of them were in this mess.

"You're not allowed to see the pokemon you'll be fighting until before the fight!" Ursaring roared at her.

"If I was trying to be sneaky I would be!" Glameow said. "Now just listen to me!"

She had both of their attention now. But then Quill noticed something strange. They were just staring into her eyes as if they couldn't look away. Then both of them collapsed and fell asleep, Teddiursa still holding onto Wurmple as if it were a doll.

"Please help me…" The Wurmple whimpered.

Glameow sighed and pulled it out of Teddyursa's grip. "You can both thank me later."

"Thank you for what?" Quill said. "It's you're fault than any of this happened in the first place!"

Aamira ran out from behind the corner. "Quill!"

"Aamira!" He stared at her as if sure this was some sort of trick. "What happened to you…? You're covered in burns."

"Well bounty hunters don't like it when you don't do what they say, right?" Aamira smiled. She was so happy so see Quill again.

"Excuse me, I hate to break up this heartwarming reunion but we still have to free everyone else in here." Glameow said.

"Why's she helping us anyway?" Quill asked Aamira.

"It's… sort of complicated." That was true. After all of this time they'd been together, Quill still didn't completely understand how Aamira always felt. And it would be even more complicated with Glameow. After all, Glameow's background and motives were entirely different from theirs.

The four of them, including the out of place Wurmple, all set out to free the rest of the pokemon. When they freed a certain number, they would always split up to be able to cover more ground. It was hard to tell the bounty hunters and the prisoners apart at times, which was a huge advantage to them, but soon the bounty hunters realized the abnormal amount of pokemon running around and they started to catch on to what was happening.

When Glameow was sure they had found everyone—at least, everyone who still had hold of their senses—they stole their collection bags back and they all followed her to the exit. Aamira thought for sure they had been underground, but it was actually just a cave in the face of a mountain. She supposed when Quill had explained about underground bounty hunter organizations that he didn't really mean "underground" but being in the cave for so long made her jump to that conclusion.

"I can't believe it!" Aamira said. "Sweet sunlight! I'll never take you for granted again!"

A lot of the other pokemon seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"You're not getting away that easily!" They were suddenly surrounded by bounty hunters on all sides. Honchkrow landed on the ground in front of them. "Aamira, I knew you wouldn't keep doing as I said forever. But what luck! Quill has come to us, saving my bounty hunters the trip!"

Aamira moved in front of Quill so that Honchkrow couldn't attack him.

Honchkrow laughed. "And I had a feeling you'd betray me, Glameow."

Glameow hissed and her fur stood up on ends.

Honchkrow's smile faded. "I think you forgot how I saved your life! Remember? Forest on fire and a kitty stuck in a tree? Parents abandoned you to save their own skins?"

Glameow was shaking.

"Honchkrow!" Aamira shouted. "Are you going to be in Mismagius's shadow forever! You're doing the same exact thing she did when our hideout was discovered! Using people's fears and memories to manipulate them… But as Mismagius discovered for herself, that doesn't work on me. And wouldn't that be your fault for wiping out my memory!"

Honchkrow laughed louder than before. "You really think that! I did nothing to your memory! That machine that I was working on was tampered with. Whoever it was that did it knew exactly what they were doing. My guess is that your turning into a pokemon and your memory loss was no accident!"

'Could that be true?' Aamira thought. 'But then who would want to do this? Come to think of it I can't remember any enemies I might have had before Mismagius and Honchkrow, so of course it's possible it was someone else.'

"What's the matter, can't think of anything else to say?" Honchkrow smiled again.

"How about this: Mismagius tried the same thing you're doing now and she still lost! And the same thing will happen to you!"

"You may have gotten lucky the last time, but I assure you that you can't defeat me as easily!"

"You may not know this, Honchkrow, but luck can sometimes be a big part of being an Investigation Team!"

Honchkrow turned around. The pokemon that appeared behind him was Electivire.

"It's about time!" Quill shouted.

"It was sort of hard tracking your signal though!" Ambipom appeared out from the trees too, along with Primeape.

More Investigation Teams appeared too. A closer look revealed that they were all of the teams that had also ended up in the hideout when Mismagius had attacked them. Team Sky, Team Overgrow, Team Night, Team Blazer, and even Team Rapids.

"Wait, what did you mean by 'tracking our signal'?" Aamira asked Ambipom.

"You don't know?" Electivire said. "Aura Glasses emit a signal whenever an Investigation team is in trouble. We were able to track you with that, but it echoed a bit in those caverns before we were finally able to track it."

"I told you to disable their Aura Glasses!" Honchkrow snapped at Glameow.

Glameow smirked and shrugged. "Must've slipped my mind."

"Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I won't be captured!" Honchkrow said.

"In case you haven't noticed, we've also got some flying type pokemon circling overhead. There's no escape for you!" Electivire said.

Honchkrow laughed. "Or so you think!" Honchkrow cried a loud sinister tune to the sky. It was so horrible that many of the pokemon there had to cover their ears. From all across the forest, a black mist rose into the sky. It was only when the mist got closer that they realize that it was hundreds of thousands of Murkrow. The Murkrow attacked the other flying type pokemon, and Honchkrow flew off before anyone could stop him.

A few of the pokemon had started crying after Honchkrow left. It seemed that Honchkrow really was as terrible as Mismagius when it came to mind tricks. The bad part was that everyone had to be prisoners for a few hours longer seeing as how it was hard to tell the bounty hunters from everyone else. But either way, everyone was a lot more cheerful than they must've been for a long time.

Electivire sent some other teams back into the cave to get the remaining bounty hunters, including Ursaring and Teddiursa. They also called in some backup teams to get all of the more wild pokemon out of there. Electivire pointed out to them that it was one of the largest arrests of bounty hunters ever made. And not only that but they had been able to prove the rumors that bounty hunters were forcing pokemon to fight.

"So what are you going to do about that thing around your neck?" Electivire asked Aamira.

Aamira put her hands to her neck and felt the metal collar. "I had almost forgotten about this. Well, I don't know what the odds would be if someone found the key, but I think I'll just keep it."

"There's no key…" Glameow said under her breath. "Why did you think we never took it off?"

"Why do you want to keep it?" Quill asked. "Don't you just want to put all of this behind us?"

"That's the last thing I want." Aamira said. "There are other bounty hunter organizations out there and I made a promise that when I got out of there I would help track down and catch bounty hunters."

"You technically already have." Electivire said.

"This doesn't count! I want to actually do something. It's hard to believe I didn't even want to be an Investigation Team member when we first started out, but now I really want to do something. And for us to become a famous team like everyone else wants to. I just want to put all this saving the world stuff behind us and become famous in a more normal way. Though I wonder if that's even possible for us."

"You don't think Honchkrow was telling the truth when he said that someone sabotaged that machine, do you?" Quill asked.

"Wait, Aamira can tell when someone's lying." Glameow said.

Aamira nodded. "It's unfortunate, but he's probably such a good liar that it would be hard to tell anyway, so I don't really know."

"Oh, I just realized something." Quill said. "Electivire, Glameow was the one who got us into this mess, but then she helped us out and we caught all of these bounty hunters. So is she going to be in trouble?"

"Now there's a good question." Electivire said. "It's true we can't just let her roam free. A lot of past bounty hunters go back after a while so we can't be sure she's really turned a new leaf. But if Aamira really can tell when someone's lying, Glameow's technically not a bad pokemon right now, so we can't send her to prison either, especially considering what she helped to accomplish here."

"Why not let her join our team?" Aamira asked. "We can keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't turn back into a bounty hunter."

"Yea right." Glameow smirked. "You just don't want to be the only girl member on your team anymore."

Aamira laughed nervously. "Yea, you're right."

"Aww! I guess that means I won't be your bestest friend anymore?" Quill asked Aamira sarcastically.

Glameow had obviously missed the sarcasm. "Quiet, rodent!"

"Hey, you don't have to talk to him like that!" Aamira said.

"And does the puppy yap a lot too?" Glameow asked Aamira sarcastically.

Glameow and Aamira stared at each other for a moment before finally realizing something important that they had missed.

"I think we might have overlooked something…" Aamira said. "Something really important."

"In that case of course Glameow can join Team Sleuth!" Electivire said.

"Hey, look on the bright side." Machop appeared behind them suddenly. He seemed to be in a really cheerful mood. "Now you're not alone anymore, Aamira! Now everyone on our team has someone to fight with!"

The four of them laughed.

Quill smirked. "A laid back feline and a serious quick tempered canine both in one team and me sort of stuck in the middle… This should be… interesting… to say the least."


	5. Chapter 5 Team Sandstone

Aamira woke up the same way as usual. She had a dream about a city burning around her and heard one of her friends calling to her, though she still couldn't tell who it was, and she woke up gasping. Then she wondered if maybe it wasn't the dream that had woken her up but all of the screaming. Everyone was arguing again, except Glameow who was pretending to sleep.

"Now look what you've done!" Machop said. "You woke up Aamira again!"

All of them started arguing louder than ever. Aamira yawned and absentmindedly hit them all with an Aura Sphere, causing them to fly back into the walls just like the last time.

Aamira jumped down from her hammock. (They had each gotten their real beds the night before.) "You know I think I figured it out. It's not me who had a problem here, it's you four. I'm just acting as a peacekeeper by doing this every morning."

Glameow stretched on her cat bed in the corner of the room. "You do this every morning?"

"Well our team just started here so we're not used to all having to share a room yet." Quill said.

"Yea, that's it." Aamira said sarcastically. "Actually I think I could get used to waking up like this."

Glameow burst into laughter, which didn't really last long. "Well let's go. I'm hungry."

Aamira heard all of their stomach's growling and remembered that they hadn't eaten since the night they first arrived here. Aamira got to eat the morning before they left for their mission, but all of them were too worried about how to cheer her up to think about breakfast that day.

All of them walked down to breakfast, wondering what their mission would be today and wondering who would be going.

"Well obviously I should go!" Glameow said. "I did just join the team so I think maybe it would be best."

"That's not always how it works." Quill said. "It really depends on the situation."

"But it probably would be best if we could get Glameow to come with us on a mission as soon as possible so she can start learning a bit about Investigation Teams." Aamira said. "We wouldn't want her threatening a client's life or something out of habit…"

Glameow glared at her. "You really think I'm that low! Some bounty hunters might have worked that way but not me!"

Aamira glared back. "Yea, all you had to do was knock them out with Hypnosis. That's just a dirty trick!"

"It's called strategy! You might want to try it out if you can ever get enough brains!"

"Oh and it wasn't strategy when I decided to not tell anyone that you were a bounty hunter so you would fight me and I'd convince you to quit being a bounty hunter?"

"Me quitting being a bounty hunter had nothing to do with you! That was my own decision!"

Quill looked terrified by the two of them, but spoke up anyway. "Actually, Glameow, that's a tactic that Aamira uses a lot. In fact if you hadn't used Hypnosis, you probably would have just become our friend faster and a lot less people would have gotten hurt…"

Glameow glared at him, obviously trying to scare him, but it was obvious to everyone that she was actually considering what Quill had said.

"But then again…" Aamira said thoughtfully. "I would have never got the chance to face Honchkrow again, at least not this soon, and what he said about him not being the one that caused that accident… I still wonder if maybe he was telling the truth…"

"And an Investigation Team likes nothing more than a good mystery!" Quill said. "So let's figure this thing out one step at a time! That is, if you two can make it that far…"

This time both Glameow and Aamira glared at him, though they seemed slightly amused, and Quill just laughed feebly for a few seconds, deciding it would be best not to say anything else.

"By the way," Glameow said, "how do you an Honchkrow know each other?"

"It's a really long story…" Aamira said. "Long story short, I used to be a human and a machine Honchkrow built turned me into a pokemon and erased my memory and Quill and I along with two of our other friends found out we were a part of some sort of prophecy to save the world."

"No, really, how do you know Honchkrow?" Glameow asked.

"It is pretty unbelievable." Quill said. "But you'd have to be living under a rock for months not to know about it. And everyone knows about what happened afterwards when Aamira disappeared into thin air, and now she's back as if nothing even happened."

"Have you seen the newspaper?" Machop pulled a paper out of his bag and handed it to Glameow. "It came out yesterday, but we weren't here. There's a story about it on the last page."

"I'll believe it when I see it…" Glameow opened to the last page. (The best stories were always in the back so people wouldn't just read the front and throw the papers out.) Aamira read it over her shoulder.

Team Sleuth: Back in Action

It was over two months ago that a horrible truth was made clear to pokemon everywhere. Mismagius, founder of Special Services and a previous partner to Lucario, an equally famous pokemon, was found to be one of the worst criminals this world has known in hundreds of years. While it was previously believed that Lucario was the cause of all the disappearances, it wasn't long before it was discovered that Mismagius was the pokemon behind everything and not only that but attempted to destroy the world by means currently unknown. There has even been a rumor that Mismagius was actually the character that appears in the legend found in Divum, Ignis, and Tempestas, though this has yet to be proven. But if there were ever any more mysterious characters than Mismagius, it would be the members of a famous Investigation Team from Sylva called Team Sleuth.

Team Sleuth started less than a year before they were to discover Mismagius's evil plot. The two leaders, Aamira and Quill, teamed up with Lucario and even a Shaymin in order to stop Mismagius. Though no proof can be found, everyone insists that there was a battle for the fate of our world taking place between Team Sleuth and Mismagius in an entirely different world. It's true that all five of them seemed to disappear without a trace, and shortly after Quill and Aamira returned to the newly named Lake Harmony.

So why is this team so mysterious? For one, of course, there's Shaymin a legendary pokemon. Shaymin has the ability to transform between a ground and a sky form. How this is possible is currently unknown. Secondly, there's Lucario. No one seems to know much about this character except that he came from the same country Mismagius is from, though it's still unknown where they come from at all. Lucario seems to have received a special form of training that isn't widely known to many other Lucario. He also worked under the codename Shade for a time to gather information on Mismagius's plans, though couldn't do anything to stop her until recently. Third is Quill, one of the leaders. Though no one knows how, he somehow came to Sylva from a small island near Ignis with his mother and younger brother. Over time he forgot who his mother was and was under the impression that his younger brother had died. Members of the Pokemon Research Academy in Sylva all say they remember Quill and can't really understand how such a timid pokemon was able to become such a strong Investigation Team member.

As if they weren't mysterious enough, the mystery deepens with the second leader, Aamira. Like Lucario and Mismagius, no one seems so know where she comes from, which has led some pokemon to believe that they might have all come from the same place. About a year ago, Aamira appeared with amnesia and was rescued by her friend Quill. Ever since the two have been members of Team Sleuth and have solved mysteries that some of us had only dreamed possible.

After the fight in another world, Aamira and Quill reappeared at Lake Harmony. They have assured that Mismagius had been defeated, but no one is as of yet entirely sure what exactly became of Mismagius, or even Lucario or Shaymin. As if that weren't enough, upon returning Aamira had only a short amount of time to say goodbye to everyone before disappearing into thin air. It was because of this that Quill became known as the Sole Survivor.

But just two days ago, Aamira reappeared with some minor injuries. No one, not even the members of Team Sleuth, are sure how this could have happened. For one, how could a pokemon who disappeared have come back with any injuries at all? Sources also say that Aamira's eyes have somehow turned the color of a Lucario's.

"I wonder if maybe this has something to do with the reason of why Aamira wasn't able to evolve." Eevee said in an interview. "My machine was perfect. The only two pokemon who couldn't evolve when they should have been able to were Aamira and Quill, and still there's no explanation as to why Quill couldn't evolve." Afterwards Eevee returned to his research and ignored any further questions.

While no one is really sure of the mysteries surrounding Team Sleuth, many pokemon are relieved to have such a successful team to be back in action. Some of them even claim to feel safe knowing that there are teams like Team Sleuth out there dedicated to helping whoever they can, whenever they can, and under whatever circumstances.

"Sole Survivor?" Aamira asked Quill after she had finished reading it. (Glameow appeared to be at a loss for words.

"I hate it when people call me that!" Quill said. "I hardly did anything and they're all acting like I'm some big hero. You and Lucario were the ones who deserved all the credit."

"That's not true." Aamira said. "I knew that I would have to disappear if the world was going to be saved. Fighting Mismagius, traveling to a different world, meeting a relative I never knew I had, having to fight all of our friends… When we just started going on automatically, I wasn't really afraid of anything. And I don't think you were either. The only thought we had was to save everyone. But when I found out I had to disappear, everything suddenly seemed too real. I considered backing out a few times even, but you said that no one was really ever gone as long as the people they care about still remember. Without you… No, I think you're the one that really saved everyone. You should be proud of that title you were given, even if it's not necessarily true…"

Quill caught the bit of humor in the last part and laughed nervously for a second.

"Oh, there was something else in there too!" Quill said. "This is so cool, you have to read it!" Quill took the paper back from Glameow and flipped a few pages towards the front and handed it to Aamira.

Prodigy Investigation Team

New Investigation Teams have been cropping up all over the world. Because of which, crime rate has been down by twenty one percent. But some doubt the capability of these new teams. A lot suggest that the dramatic drop in crime rate is due solely to the "war" waged two months ago. Though it only lasted a day, it brought pokemon from every rival country together for one common goal. So how do we know how reliable these teams are? Though some of them might not be good yet, we're already seeing some amazing feats being done by one of the newest teams, Team Sandstone.

"They rescued me!" One of their team members said. "It wasn't even their mission and they rescued me anyway! And not only that but they became Bronze Rank in only a couple of days!"

Some say this is the fastest a rescue team could ever hope to rank up. The higher the rank, the more amazing the feats have to be in order to raise the rank further. So obviously Silver won't be quite as easy, but a lot of pokemon all over commend Team Sandstone for all the work they do to make sure everyone's happy.

"There was a bully picking on me…" an Igglybuff from Chalybs said in an interview. "Investigation Teams are really busy, so I couldn't believe it when one stopped to help me!"

These kindhearted pokemon not only have time to do more than one mission a day, but always seem to have the time to stop and help the "little people".

"How would I describe them…?" Their mother said. "Timid, surely, but very determined. I'm sure they'd be able to accomplish anything they set their minds to. And maybe it's because they've had such a hard childhood, but they really want to strive for peace for pokemon everywhere. I must've had my eyes closed for a long time not to realize how much they had grown up… I still worry about them sometimes, but I guess that's just what mothers do."

So whether it's a little kid on a playground, or a pokemon trapped in a dungeon, we can rest assured that Investigation Teams like Team Sandstone will always be there to help when things get rough. So we can rest assured that no matter what the cause in the decrease of crime rate, Investigation Teams are, without a doubt, one hundred percent reliable.

"Typhlosion pointed that out to me last night." Quill said. "It's kinda cool. Apparently we inspired a lot of pokemon to form teams so there's been less crime everywhere. It's pretty cool that there are teams as nice as Team Sandstone. I hope we get to meet them sometime."

"Oh, that reminds me, why did Typhlosion want to talk to you?" Aamira asked.

"He said that something exciting was about to happen in Ignis and we'll be invited to it. It's supposed to be a surprise though so he didn't tell me everything. But I wonder what it is? Of course if it's supposed to be a surprise he would probably know seeing as how Charmeleon is the elder's son and they're in the same team."

"Well let's not try to guess so it will be an even bigger surprise."

"Oh yea. If you think about it too long you'll probably actually figure it out, right?"

Aamira nodded, but now that she thought about it she wasn't sure if it would work. She hadn't used her abilities at all since reappearing. Maybe it was because she didn't really need them? No, that wasn't it… Like most Aura Readers, her aura wasn't complete. If Lucario was with her it would be a different story, but without someone with a silver aura her abilities wouldn't work.

Lucario… Aamira wondered what he was doing right now. Was he fighting Mismagius right now? Or was he just wondering how much time it had been since he was sealed inside the Aura Scepter. If Aamira's dream of Lucario wasn't just a dream, then could he maybe be waiting for Aamira?

"Hey, Aamira!" Quill said. "Are you daydreaming? Come on! Snap out of it!"

"Huh?" Aamira looked up at Quill. "Oh, sorry. I must've drifted off for a second there." Aamira remembered that she hadn't told Quill about the dream. 'I guess it'll just be my secret for now…'

"Well let's go see what our mission will be today." Quill said.

All of them headed to the main floor where Electivire was waiting for them.

"Ah, about time." He said. "Glameow and Machop, today I need your help with something."

"What's up?" Machop asked.

"Yesterday's arrest of all those bounty hunters has caused a bit of a problem. Since the two of you have the most experience in this field, I'd like you to help us out."

"So what's the problem?" Glameow asked.

"We're having trouble telling some of the prisoners from the bounty hunters. We can't afford to let a bunch of bounty hunters roam free and we can't send any innocent pokemon to prison either, especially after what happened to them. So we want you two to help us sort them out."

"So what should we do?" Quill asked.

"There aren't any missions we know of that need immediate attention. Why don't you go to the post office to find some missions?" Electivire looked at them and realized they had no idea where the post office was. "I'm sorry; I forgot you only just started working here. You don't know this area very well. Hey! Charmeleon and Typhlosion!"

Charmeleon and Typhlosion came running over.

"If you wouldn't mind, could you two show Team Sleuth around town?"

"No problem." Charmeleon said. "It's a pretty small city so it shouldn't take long. But they don't know the area very well so should we take them on a few missions with us too?"

"Yes, that'll be fine."

Aamira and Quill followed Charmeleon and Typhlosion outside.

"Yesterday was pretty crazy, huh?" Charmeleon said. "Never thought I'd see the members of Black Wing again."

"So you used to be one of them?" Quill asked.

"I was a rogue mostly, but since they were the best bounty hunters that was the best way for me to make money." Charmeleon shivered. "I can't believe I ever fell that low. I saw some of the pokemon that they had as prisoners… I'm ashamed to say I remembered a few…"

"So that means they've been there for about a year?" Aamira asked.

"I think that's enough." Typhlosion said to Charmeleon.

"I understand you not wanting Quill to hear this stuff. He might not be a little kid anymore, but it's not like bounty hunters are your typical criminals. By the way, why didn't you ever tell me Quill was your son?"

Typhlosion didn't answer for a while. "I joined Team Blazer, because I thought the shadow might have been a bounty hunter. Matched the description, didn't it? Sudden disappearances and working by stealth… So the only real reason I joined was because you were a bounty hunter. But wouldn't you know it? You ended up being a decent pokemon after all and we ended up as friends."

"Ah, so you didn't want to put Quill in danger by telling me." Charmeleon smirked in his usual way. "That makes sense."

They went on with the tour without any further mention of bounty hunters. Pacis was a country that only had one main city, called Pokemon Central. It was pretty simple. South of Special Services HQ (still to be renamed) was the main square where all the stores were located. From the center of town the road went to the left and right. To the left was a Dojo and to the right was a post office. (Visible from a distance because of the amount of Delibird.)

The four of them walked over to the post office. In front were two bulletin boards, one for outlaw missions and one for every other kind of missions.

"So what type of mission should we do…?" Charmeleon said to himself mostly. "Since we have such a big group an escort is out of the question… Item retrieval or a delivery would be too easy… With our numbers an outlaw mission would probably be best."

"How about this one?" Typhlosion took a wanted poster with a mission note attached off the outlaw board. "This sounds like a good one. There's a Steelix causing trouble in a dungeon to the north of here. A couple of brothers tried to get a treasure rumored to be in the depths of that dungeon and when they finally got close they were defeated right away by Steelix. I think it was the older brother that wrote this. He says he tried to protect his younger brother but he was no match for Steelix."

"A Steelix?" Quill said. "Well since it's a steel type and we all have either fighting or fire type moves we would be pretty good against it. It seems sort of top priority too, doesn't it?"

"Decide for yourself." Charmeleon was reading the mission note. "The reward is the dungeon's treasure. Strange, isn't it? Not only do the people who asked for the mission want to give up the treasure they've been trying to find, but basically it's like we have to find the reward. It almost sounds like a challenge."

"Well who sent it?" Aamira asked.

"It didn't say." Typhlosion said.

Aamira took out her Aura Glass (which was now platinum) and looked at the letter. "But these are… Riolu prints."

"Riolu brothers?" Quill said. "What two Riolu brothers do we know?"

"I doubt it could be Team Rio. After all, we haven't seen them in some time now. And do they really sound like the type to give up some amazing treasure?"

"That's true…" Quill said. "And besides, it didn't mention a third member of their team, did it? They might just be a new team starting out and they didn't really know what they were doing."

"They knew exactly what they were doing." Typhlosion said. "That dungeon's the easiest in this area. It's called Grassy Meadow. But the thing is, it's so easy I don't even know why a Steelix would be in that area."

"This is all a bit strange." Aamira said. "I might just be paranoid after everything that's happened to us, but is it possible that this is a trap? Think about it. Maybe it is Team Rio. Lucario had his two Riolu sidekicks send that mission request. A strong team comes with loads of items so they'll be completely prepared to fight a Steelix. Then when they get to the deepest part of the dungeon, they trigger a pitfall trap and Team Rio swoops in to steal all of their items before they knew what hit them."

"You're right." Charmeleon said. "You are paranoid. We would be able to see the pitfall by using our Aura Glasses. Even if they are a bad Investigation Team, Team Rio would at least know that."

"That's true." Quill said. "Hey, what if this mission's actually for real? That would be a first, wouldn't it?"

All four of them laughed. From being kidnapped to becoming "the chosen one" and everything in between, their missions hardly ever went straight forward. It would be nice to have a normal mission for once, but normal for Investigation Teams like Team Sleuth and Team Blazer wouldn't be normal at all.

The dungeon was pretty easy. It was mostly home to Starly and Buneary. It had fifteen floors; a lot less than the thirty five in Origin Tower. But when they got to the end, there wasn't any sign of a Steelix.

Aamira pulled out her Aura Glass and looked around. "I don't see any pitfalls or anything."

"Well let's keep going." Charmeleon took the lead and the rest of them followed. But then the ground started shaking and all of them were flown into the air by Steelix, who has just come up from underground.

"That's the Steelix?" Quill said. "No way! It's way too big!"

"I don't think I've seen one this big or strong before." Typhlosion said. "This might be a problem…."

"We've still got the advantage!" Aamira said.

Charmeleon ran in again and used Flame Thrower. Steelix barely seemed phased by it at all. "You were saying?"

"Doesn't it look a little… Strange?" Typhlosion asked. "It's a lighter color than most Steelix, and it's wearing some sort of rock around its neck."

He was right. There was a shiny white rock hanging from its neck by a chain. But Steelix was such a bright color that it was impossible to see at first.

"Forget what it looks like." Aamira said. "It's still a pokemon and every pokemon has a weakness!"

All four of them attacked, but nothing they did seemed to have any effect. Meanwhile, Steelix attacked them with tons of ferocious attacks. All of them were getting tired quickly, but none of them was willing to give up. The fact that there actually was a Steelix there meant that this mission was for real. And not only that, but it was a huge problem for a Steelix to be in such an easy dungeon. Any of the newer Investigation Teams that came here would be attacked and wiped out as soon as Steelix appeared.

Aamira used Aura Sphere. It seemed to have worked. So it couldn't be hurt by fire type attacks, but it was still weak against fighting type attacks. But then when Quill attacked it with Flamethrower, it seemed to have a pretty big effect. What as going on? The four of them continued to fight. Every now and then their attacks would work, but most of the time Steelix couldn't be hurt.

Typhlosion used Flame Wheel lower on Steelix's body. Apparently it wasn't as sturdy as it looked and ended up falling backwards. Steelix got up and attacked them repeatedly with Dragon Breath.

"Is it just me, or is it wincing?" Aamira asked.

"Maybe that last attack did more on it than I thought." Typhlosion said.

"I don't think so. It looks like it's in a lot of pain and it's just trying to defend itself." Aamira said.

"Yea, you're right." Quill said. "This isn't the first time we've seen a pokemon act like this, but it seems really aggressive too. It just seems so strange. What could be causing this?"

"Maybe it's that stone around its neck." Charmeleon said.

"Why does that seem familiar?" Quill asked. "Wait, could it be that someone's trying to control it? I remember when you tried that with Aamira she was in a lot of pain."

Charmeleon crossed his arms. "You just had to bring that up, didn't you? But no one's ever tried it on a dungeon pokemon before. Maybe that's why it's acting so wild. But how did it get here?"

"Who knows? But hasn't anyone noticed it stopped attacking?" Typhlosion said.

The four of them looked at Steelix. It was definitely wincing in pain. It tossed its head as if to try to break free of something, then started thrashing around and roaring.

"It has to be that stone!" Aamira ran towards Steelix, ignoring the shouts from the other three not to, and jumped to grab the stone. Then midway through the jump, Aamira got hit with its tail and thrown back. Steelix continued to thrash around and Aamira laid on the ground, stunned by being caught off guard like that.

"What's going on?" Quill asked. "When was the last time you were caught off guard like that?"

"That stone's what's doing it! Remember when we got here? Steelix was hiding under the ground, too far for us to see with the Aura Glass, but I still should have sensed it! And now, when it's not even two hundred yards away, I still can't sense it!"

"So that stone's blocking its aura…" Charmeleon said. "It's obvious someone did this on purpose. Perhaps even to be able to ambush a Lucario or a well trained Riolu."

"Honchkrow." Aamira and Quill said at the same time.

"We can't get near that stone on its neck the way its thrashing." Quill said. "Looks like we'll just have to fight it. Then when we can weaken it enough we can get that stone."

The four of them attacked again, though reluctantly, but Steelix was suffering and they had to help it. The drawback was that they could only attack long range. The advantage was that if they did attack long range, they couldn't get hurt. After a while, Steelix finally roared out in pain and fell to the ground. They ran towards it, but then something strange happened. Steelix started glowing really brightly, causing them all to go temporarily blind. When the light faded Steelix was gone.

"Where did it go?" Typhlosion said. "A pokemon that size doesn't just disappear! It didn't tunnel away; the ground hasn't changed at all. And if it had there would have been a tremor."

"So what happened?" Quill asked.

"Hey, look at this." Aamira walked to where Steelix had been laying and picked up something. "It's that stone. The one that was around its neck. It's so strange. My whole arm is going numb from the energy in it, but I couldn't feel it at all until now."

"Drop it!" Quill shouted.

Aamira dropped it out of surprise and the numbness in her arm went away.

"You can't just pick up things if you don't know what they are." Charmeleon said. "You don't know how dangerous it might be."

"That's true." Aamira said. "But it might be important right?" Aamira picked it up again and put it in her bag. "We should at least take it with us. I can't feel its energy apparently unless I'm directly touching it, so it should be okay in my bag." Aamira turned towards the entrance into the room. "Someone else is here."

There were a couple of shouts from behind the corner and a couple of pokemon ran out.

"Hey, long time no see!" One of them said.

"Hey, it's Roy!" Quill said. "It has been a while, hasn't it? Oh, but… are you maybe the one that wrote that mission request?"

"Yea, that was me." Roy said. "And this is my little brother, Sandshrew!"

"Uh… Hi…" Sandshrew said nervously.

"You're little brother's a Sandshrew?" Quill asked. "How's that possible?"

"We were both orphaned." Roy said. "I guess we're lucky that Kangaskhan's are so motherly. A herd of them adopted us and we ended up as brothers."

"Flinches easily, timid… short. Yea, I can see the resemblance." Aamira said.

Roy and Sandshrew both blushed slightly and laughed nervously.

"Hey, what about the treasure?" Sandshrew asked Roy.

"Oh, I almost forgot it." Roy said. "It should be just past here." He led the way and the rest of them followed.

It didn't take long to find it. It was a glowing, pearl-like object, except it was reddish-orange in color and a lot larger than a pearl.

"But that's…" Charmeleon walked towards it. "Yes, there's no doubt. This is the stolen Fiery-Gem."

"Wait, the one from Glacies?" Quill said. "But it couldn't have been here all this time."

"Well, it… wasn't…" Roy's face turned red again.

"You don't have to be so modest." Charmeleon said. "You saved a lot of people." When Roy didn't say anything, Charmeleon continued. "Mismagius called most of her mind controlled pokemon into Desolo. An all out war pretty much broke out. Luckily all of the Investigation Teams came to help us fight them. The pokemon on Mismagius's side seemed a lot stronger though. But then Roy somehow broke free. A bunch of treasures seemed to have reacted to his aura and started flying into the air. It was because of Roy we were able to stop them, but the treasures were scattered everywhere."

"Mismagius thought she would be able to find an ultimate power." Quill said. "But she had to have strong pokemon on her side, so it would make sense that she would give them the weaker treasures."

"So they were scattered everywhere?" Aamira asked. "So I guess we could try to find them…"

"They might not even be in this world." Charmeleon said.

"I… I don't think that's true." Roy said. "They were made from the crystals found in this world. Since this world's aura in infused in those treasures, their aura's would be similar. So they would come straight to this world, though they might even be in the bottom of the sea for all we know…"

"Do you know about what happened in Glacies a while back?" Sandshrew asked, strangely confidently. "They say that Articuno came back! That was you that did it, wasn't it Aamira?"

'Aura Release…' Aamira thought. 'Mismagius used Aura Seal on the items… to steal the legendary pokemon's power. So maybe she also somehow sealed the pokemon into them! She learns from the past, so she probably copied the Aura Scepter. So when I used Aura Release…' "I might have…" 'Giratina said that aura would restore slowly… so maybe it was the same thing when I used Aura Release. So Articuno only came back recently.'

"The treasures were switched." Roy said. "I read about it. The countries of fire, ice, and lightning used to constantly be at war. To stop it, they each traded their treasures so they wouldn't have so much destructive power. The legend says that the mountain range used to extend all the way to the sea, dividing the continent in half, but then during one of their three way wars they ended up destroying a portion of the mountain range and creating Pacis is the process."

"A whole half of the mountain range? Destroyed!" Quill said.

"But we can't just leave the legendary pokemon sealed inside their own treasures. I think we would only be able to free them by returning the treasures to their rightful places." Aamira said.

"Sounds like a lot of work." Quill said. "How many treasures are we looking for then? Obviously Latias and Latios's treasure wasn't stolen. We would have been the first to know, right? And how many legendary pokemon are there anyway?"

"Who knows?" Aamira said.

"Sounds like a pretty cool adventure actually." Charmeleon said. "Getting to meet legends… We're in, for sure!"

"Us too!" Roy and Sandshrew said at the same time.

"So you two are an Investigation Team now?" Aamira asked.

"Yup!" Roy pulled out a bronze Aura Glass and held it up. "Team Sandstone!"


	6. Chapter 6 Honchkrow's New Boss

Back at headquarters, Team Sandstone was getting their worth of attention. Aamira and Quill were glad for this at least. As long as they just sort of hovered in the background, no one would notice them and they had some time to relax. While they were in Divum months ago, they had thought they were really famous, and now that seemed like nothing.

"I can't believe it." Electivire said to the two of them while everyone else was distracted by Team Sandstone. "You've done it again. And not only that but you've figured out what you want to do."

"Yea." Quill said. "We're going to hunt down all of the treasures!"

"The aura in the Fiery-Gem is strong." Aamira said. "I might be able to sense whenever we're near one, as long as another one of those gems don't turn up. They seem to have some sort of effect that blocks aura."

"Yes, Eevee and the rest of the research division are conducting an investigation onto the stone that you found." Electivire said. "I'm concerned though. I doubt there's just one of those things around. It looks really valuable too. I'm afraid that someone might just pick it up and end up like Steelix."

Aamira crossed her arms like she usually did when thinking of something. "If you ask me, that's exactly what someone wants. This seems familiar. Before Mirror Shards were being used to control pokemon, and now we find this stone that seems to do nearly the exact same thing.

"You're ability to sense aura might still come in handy though." Typhlosion said. "If they are being controlled, it's obvious that someone would want them to blend in with everyone else. They might be hiding among crowds. If there's anyone whose aura you can't sense, they probably have one of those stones too."

"There's something else." Charmeleon took the Fiery-Gem out of his bag. "I remember you mentioning it once. You can hear the legendary pokemon's thoughts when you touch their treasures because of your ability. So maybe you can find out why the Fiery-Gem was in that dungeon in the first place."

"That's true…" Aamira said. "It sort of seemed like Steelix was guarding it. So maybe someone put it there intentionally to lure other pokemon in." She reached out her hand and touched the Fiery-Gem, sure she was going to hear something. She waited a while, but nothing happened. "That's strange. I can sense a strong aura in it, but I can't hear the legendary pokemon's memories like I usually can."

"So you can't hear anything?" Quill asked. "I wonder if it has something to do with why I can't feel your emotions anymore."

"You can't?" Aamira asked. Quill forgot that he hadn't told Aamira this yet. "Quill, why didn't you tell me this? It might be something important."

"I didn't want you to worry…" Quill said guiltily.

Aamira sighed. "I understand. Okay, you want me to admit it don't you? I'm way too reckless and without you I'd be lucky to be standing here right now."

Quill stared at her in amazement. "I can't believe you actually admitted that!"

"And I was a little overconfident when I found out Glameow was a bounty hunter and I probably should have let you and Machop know what I was doing." Aamira looked down at Quill. "Do you even understand what I'm saying here?"

Charmeleon laughed when he saw the confused look on Quill's face. "I thought you knew her well enough by now to tell what she was thinking even when you can't feel her emotions anymore. I think Aamira's trying to tell you that you've both made mistakes and that neither of you should hold it against each other."

"Yea." Aamira said. "And speaking of mistakes, I haven't seen Infernape around lately."

Typhlosion laughed at this. "We finally got sick of her attitude and kicked her off the team. I hear she was even removed from our Hall of Fame picture."

"Well that's what happens when a member either leaves or gets kicked out." Charmeleon said. "She should have seen it coming. But maybe it just couldn't get through her hothead. I hear she ran off to Chalybs afterwards."

There was the sound of an explosion from in the back of the base. There was a short tremor that followed. Everyone turned to the source of the sound, but it seemed to have been from behind a few doors so they couldn't see what had happened. Team Sleuth, Blazer, and Sandstone all ran through the door towards the source of the explosion.

It had come from one of the laboratory rooms. Inside Eevee and a bunch of the other researchers were lying on the ground, obviously badly injured. There was a hole blasted in the wall and the whole lab was a wreck.

"What happened?" Quill asked Eevee.

"Someone broke in…" Eevee said. "It was so fast I didn't see what happened. A bunch of pokemon came in and they took that stone that all of you found."

"Did you see what any of the pokemon looked like?" Roy asked.

"One of them was… Honchkrow…" Eevee fainted just as he was able to get the last word out of his mouth."

"Well, let's go!" Charmeleon said. "Let's try to catch them!"

"We'll stay to help out here." Sandshrew said.

So while Team Sandstone stayed behind to help the researchers, Team Sleuth and Team Blazer ran off after Honchkrow.

"This doesn't make any sense." Aamira was leading the way since she was able to track him by his aura. "He took that stone so why can I still sense his aura?

"Does it matter?" Quill ask. "This way we can still follow him."

Honchkrow was waiting for them some distance away from headquarters. He smirked confidently. "I don't need you to interfere with us right now." Honchkrow cawed in a low, haunting note that made them all flinch back. A bunch of Murkrow that were hiding in the grass around them took to the air and attacked. "I've got what I need. You're not important to us yet." Honchkrow flew off and left the fighting to the Murkrow.

Aamira had to be careful since they were flying types. Everyone else seemed to be having and easier time though. Soon enough at least, the Murkrow all flew off. Whether it was from their injuries or if Honchkrow called them from far away, they all took off at the same time.

The four of them, frustrated that they weren't able to follow, headed back to the base. When they got back, all of the researchers were being treated for mild injuries. Stronger pokemon, including Machop from Aamira and Quill's own team, were helping to clear the rubble away.

"Team Sleuth, Team Blazer, and Team Sandstone, come with me." Electivire sounded somewhat irritated. All of them looked around nervously, though they didn't really know if there would be a reason for him to be mad at them. Then they thought that perhaps he blamed them for what happened because they brought that stone back with them.

Electivire led them to a room in the base than none of them had seen before. It seemed to be a meeting room. Electivire sat in one of the chairs and the rest of them did the same.

"This is serious." Electivire said. "Until now no one's ever broken into our base."

"Well what do you expect?" Charmeleon said. "Before Mismagius was running it so both the good and bad pokemon were on her side no one would even bother breaking in."

"This is no time for jokes!" He snapped at Charmeleon. "This information is classified, and for a good reason too. What I'm about to tell you can never be spoken outside this room. Lately it's been rumored that Honchkrow has found himself a new boss. Not only that but he's also working as more than a scientist this time. With hundreds of Murkrow at his command, we might be facing an army in the near future."

Aamira crossed her arms out of habit again. "It's obvious they're planning something. Honchkrow was in such a rush that he didn't even stay behind for his usual gloating. It's not like him at all, and I'm sure that stone has something to do with it."

"I talked to Eevee." Electivire said. "Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get any useful information out of it before it was stolen."

"Well, if it's that important let's just find another one." Quill said.

"Uhh… I-I don't think it's that simple…" Roy said timidly. "I've been thinking this a lot… Honchkrow likes doing experiments, doesn't he…? And that Steelix we fought earlier didn't seem to really be brainwashed or anything. Maybe Steelix was just a test?"

"He might have been planning on using it for something else." Sandshrew said. "And on someone more important. Like Aamira, a town elder, or maybe even a legendary. So he tried doing a test with that Steelix, but hadn't expected Team Sleuth to show up. So when the stone was stolen, he had no choice but to steal it back as quickly as he could."

"He's definitely trying to keep whatever he's planning a secret. It's understandable at least. But I'd think that if he thought it was flawless, he wouldn't go to all the trouble. Whatever that stone does must have a hidden weakness."

"It is strange how he left so quickly though." Typhlosion said. "He was definitely in a hurry for some reason. Maybe his new boss, whoever they are, didn't like that Honchkrow lost that stone. It might be possible even that Honchkrow wasn't acting for money or fame or anything like that, but maybe just for his own life…"

"You can't think he might be a victim in this!" Aamira said. "Stone or no stone, I could still sense his aura, though I don't know why, and he wasn't fearful in the slightest! He seemed almost excited."

"Hey Aamira, you don't think he's trying to find a way to control you again, do you?" Quill asked. "I mean, before he tried to make a machine that would let Mismagius read your mind then he threatened my own life when we were captured by the bounty hunters. It wouldn't surprise me."

"It would surprise me." Charmeleon said. "Look at what's happened so far. Have any of his attempts at anything worked out as planned? Besides stealing that stone, obviously. I've learned to catch creeps like this you have to think like them. Obviously, for me it isn't that difficult. And I suspect that Honchkrow knows exactly what would happen if he tried controlling Aamira again. More precisely with that stone. He would kidnap Aamira and try to use that stone to brainwash her or whatever, but it wouldn't work. Then Aamira would put on an acting routine to make Honchkrow think it had worked. Then Aamira would easily be able to escape and tell the whole world about what he's up to."

"That does sound like Aamira." Quill said. He looked over at Aamira who seemed to be in deep thought.

"Can you think of anything that might be able to help us?" Electivire asked Aamira. It seemed that was the reason he had asked them all to come with him in the first place.

"I'm trying to remember what it was like when I touched that stone." Aamira closed her eyes to concentrate harder. "A numbness went through my arm, but even if it had spread through my whole body I would still be in control of my actions in, spite of being really clumsy because of it. It was sort of a cold feeling like I was standing in the middle of a blizzard, but like I said it had only spread through my arm before I dropped it. Maybe if I hadn't dropped it we would have been able to figure something out about it."

"Nonsense!" Electivire said. "Safety comes first. We're not making any sacrifices just to get some information."

"Or stop a maniac with hundreds of followers?" Aamira asked.

Electivire sighed desperately. "I wish I knew what to do with you… I had been warned about your stubbornness and recklessness."

"She's not always like that." Quill said. "I think it's just when she doesn't know something. With the ability to know whatever they want, I'm sure any Aura Reader would be frustrated when there's something like this they don't know about."

"Alright." Electivire stood up. "I can see we're getting nowhere fast. For the time being I would like each of you to carry on as you normally would. And Team Sandstone, we would be glad to have you join us."

"Really?" Roy said excitedly.

"But we just started!" Sandshrew said.

"Does it really matter?" Electivire asked. "You've already gone beyond the call of duty numerous times. I have a feeling we can put our trust in the two of you."

The two of them looked excitedly at each other. They had obviously wanted to start a team for a long time, and now that they had it must have been unbelievable to them that they were already joining Special Services.

"I doubt we'll be able to do anything else for today." Electivire said. "For now, the six of you should go eat dinner. After that it's straight to bed. Team Sandstone, seeing as how you're just joining us, I'm afraid your room won't be much."

"More than we're used to I'm sure." Roy said. "We've just been camping out wherever we end up ever since we started Team Sandstone."

"Yea, it's been pretty cool though." Sandshrew said. "There's nothing like sleeping out under the stars." There was something in Sandshrew's eyes that looked like a mix between sadness and longing, but it disappeared so quickly that the few people that seemed to notice it thought they must have imagined it.

Aamira and Quill ate quickly. The two of them were exhausted and desperately wanted to get to bed. They'd need all the rest they could get since it would be back to work as usual the next day.

Aamira laid in her hammock for a while though, looking outside at the stars like Sandshrew had mentioned earlier. She wondered for a moment what it looked like in Atra. It was always night there, so there were always stars. Now that the world was safe, for the moment at least, had the Solar Flowers started to bloom again and had the clouds finally disappeared? What did its two moons look like?

Aamira couldn't help thinking of Lucario as she thought of the world he came from. It didn't matter what world he came from to Aamira, since she had also come from a different world. She remembered how she had ended up with Lucario in one of her dreams. It seemed so real it couldn't have possibly have been just a dream.

"It wasn't just a dream." Someone said as though they were reading her mind.

Aamira stood up hurriedly and looked around. She was back in that place again, and standing in front of her was Lucario. "So this is real? I can't even remember falling asleep."

"Because you didn't." Lucario said. "I don't really know why this is happening either. Maybe just because you're an Aura Reader? I don't know. If that were the case then why do you only appear here on certain nights?"

"I guess there will always be mysteries." Aamira smiled. "And as long as there are mysteries there will always be Investigation Teams to solve them."

Lucario laughed happily. "Or try to anyway. How long has it been since you came here last?"

Aamira thought. Surely it had been some time ago. "It was… two nights ago. It seems so much longer than that."

"Try being stuck in here with Mismagius. Trust me, it probably felt a lot longer to me than it did to you."

"You're probably right." Aamira said. "Something weird is going on. Honchkrow is apparently working for someone else now. Earlier today he tried using this stone to control a Steelix, which went on a rampage in a normally easy dungeon. We stopped Steelix and took the stone, but Honchkrow broke in with a bunch of Murkrow and stole it back."

"Well what did you expect?" Lucario said. "Honchkrow's not the type to just give up. He wouldn't do anything like this unless there was something in it for him. And, unfortunately, I think it might be revenge."

"Revenge?"

"He wants the strongest on his side. He doesn't like that there could possibly be even one pokemon strong enough to defeat whoever he's working for. I'm afraid that next time he won't just be trying to get you locked up in a dungeon somewhere. If he's after the sort of revenge I'm thinking he is, he'll start targeting your team members. He'll save Quill for last and only finish you off when you have nothing left. I doubt he could ever succeed in a plan like that though. The amount of pokemon he would have to get by just to get at your team, and how spread out your team might be at some times."

"I won't let him do anything like that." Aamira said. "If it comes down to it, I'll protect them all myself."

"You're… Different." Lucario said. "There were times before when you would have run off. You would have run away to try to save everyone. You were afraid that you might end up betraying your friends."

"It wouldn't matter if I left or not if that's really what Honchkrow wants to do. By staying here at least I'd be of some help. But there's something I'm wondering about. I just happened to end up here when I thought of you? Can dreams be manipulated?"

Lucario sighed. "So you still think of this as a dream? I guess I can't convince you. Just do what you think is right; you don't have to listen to me. If you think I'm an illusion created by Honchkrow or something like that, I don't know how I would convince you otherwise. And if I was an Illusion created by Honchkrow it would be best that you just ignored me."

'Lucario…'

"But if I am an illusion I'm a pretty good one, don't you think? Because I'm even fooling myself if that's the case." He smiled. "So whether I'm just some illusion or not, I'm still glad I'm at least able to see you every now and then. And I really hope this won't be the last time."

Aamira was laying in the hammock again, as if nothing had happened. It didn't seem like a dream that time, because she couldn't remember ever falling asleep or waking up. It couldn't have all just been in her head, could it? And she hoped more than anything that it wasn't just some trick. Aamira forced herself to get some sleep and had the same dream as usual of that burning city and a long forgotten friend.

"You almost cost us everything with your blunder, Honchkrow." A pokemon said from in the shadows. Honchkrow had never even seen what it was, but could tell just by being near it that it was more powerful than any other pokemon he had ever met in spite of its voice, which sounded innocent and childlike.

"I'm sorry, master!" Honchkrow's voice shook slightly. Was this real fear or another act? No one would have been able to tell.

"You did get back the Luminous Fragment for us though. I suppose we can forgive you this time. But we're not usually this patient with our friends, Honchkrow. Would you please try not to fail us again?" Though it was in the shadows, Honchkrow had a horrible feeling that it was wearing a horrid smile.

"No, of course not. Never again." Honchkrow said.

"And what of your old master? Are you really willing to betray her for us? Do you really want our power more than hers? Are you prepared to face the light?"

"Whatever it takes, I want to get stronger! I don't care what I'm dealing with as long as I have more power!" Honchkrow felt it again; that horrible smile.

"Then we will give you this chance. But please try not to let us down. We don't like failure."

The way "they" talked confused Honchkrow slightly. He had only ever heard once voice. Maybe that was just the way this pokemon talked? Or was there someone else hidden in the shadows?

"Now you be a good birdy, and get us what we want. We want our treasure back. You must find it for us!"

"I would if I only had a little more power!" Honchkrow said desperately.

There came that horrible smile again. "Okay, Honchkrow, we give you some of our power now. But no more if you fail us again. No more anything if you fail us again!" Then there was a blinding flash of light in which, for a split second, Honchkrow thought he had seen the mysterious pokemon's silhouette.

Aamira, are you alright?" Quill asked the next morning. She hadn't attacked them with her usual Aura Sphere, which all of them had been somewhat prepared for.

"Yea, I've just got a bit of stuff on my mind." Aamira said.

"Don't we all?" Quill asked. "Let's try to get an easy mission for today. I'm sure it would be better for us that way."

Aamira nodded. She had hoped Quill would say something like this. For a moment she wondered if Quill was telling the truth when he said he couldn't feel her emotions anymore.

'Whether he can or can't, Lucario will remain my secret. If this is all a trick, I'll deal with it on my own. Because if it is a trick, this becomes personal.'


	7. Chapter 7 Trickster Twins

"Wait, so I'm being left behind!" Quill said in outrage after Electivire gave them all their missions.

"I'm afraid so." Electivire said. "The client was really specific. He wants a Normal and a Fighting type pokemon to escort him. It seems a little strange that he would request both of those types in particular, so it's best that you take a Ghost Type with you too. A Ghost type is weakest against dark types, but if the one you're escorting is a Dark type Aamira will have an advantage. And if that Dark type happens to fly, Glameow knows Thunderbolt."

"When did you learn Thunderbolt?" Aamira asked Glameow.

"I learned it a while ago using a TM. I didn't know that so much training went into it though. I was so tired after that… I have dreams sometimes when I get the chance to use it on Honchkrow."

Aamira laughed. To her, that sounded like a pretty good dream.

"But does Gengar really have to go?" Quill said. "Why can't I?"

"The mission is to find the Gold Chamber." Electivire said calmly.

"THE GOLD CHAMBER!" All of them shouted at the same time at the top of their lungs. The Gold Chamber was one of the biggest mysteries that mystery dungeons had to offer. One day it would be in one dungeon, the next it wouldn't. It seemed to move around from dungeon to dungeon. But that wasn't the mysterious part. The Gold Chamber was apparently a very large room. It was said to have a treasure in the center of it, but it was protected by dangerous waterways and thick walls so no one's even seen what the treasure is yet. Since Gengar happened to be a Ghost type, he'd be able to get through the walls and get the treasure.

"I see now…" Quill said sadly. "Well… that's too bad, I guess. But you'll all bring the treasure you find back for me to see, won't you!"

"Of course!" Aamira said. "If our client doesn't want it, you can even keep the treasure if you want."

"Wow! Cool!" Quill said. "I really wish I could see the Gold Chamber for myself, but oh well."

"Yea, you can relax today, Quill." Electivire said. "There's nothing else that needs to be done."

Team Sleuth split up. Their client was waiting for them outside. Quill watched them leave and went back up stairs to get a few more minutes of sleep before something else happened that would make him leap into action.

"What about our mission?" Roy ran up to Electivire with Sandshrew following close behind.

"Ah, yes. Team Sandstone." Electivire said. "I've got an important mission for you two to do."

"But you just told Quill there wasn't anything else that needs to be done." Sandshrew said.

"I'm impressed that you heard that from so far away." Electivire said. "This is a mission Quill's already done before, so I thought I'd give it to you two as your initiation mission. A few days ago Rolland, a thieving Mime Jr. was released from prison for good behavior. But since then more crimes have started."

"So he's at it again?" Sandshrew asked.

"But… couldn't someone maybe be using his criminal record to commit crimes so everyone would think it was Rolland?" Roy asked uncertainly.

"Yes, that's what the king and queen thought. So we need the two of you to head over there to figure out which one of them is the real thief. Basically it's just starting all over again with how this originally played out. Frustrating, isn't it? And I'm afraid the tricks Team Sleuth used last time might not work this time."

"So that's why you want someone else to do it this time." Sandshrew said. "A new team with all new tactics."

When the two of them were ready, they headed out to Jester Village all the way in Sylva where their mission would take place. They reached the village by the next morning. The guards let them into the castle after they showed them their Aura Glasses. The king and queen were waiting for them.

"Another Riolu?" Queen Bella asked. "Well seeing as how that other one was so reliable… I suppose it couldn't hurt if another one were to try."

"Actually, I think something like this would be better left for my brother Sandshrew to decide." Roy said. "Sandshrew's better at this sort of thing than I am."

"Right. You narrow them down with riddles and I'll be able to figure out which Mime Jr. is the real thief!" Sandshrew said.

"As, such teamwork!" King Leef said. "That's what I like to see. This time you got lucky. We were able to narrow it down to five Mime Jr. instead of the nine from last time."

"Well that's good, seeing as how we can't use the same riddles as last time." Roy said.

The five Mime Jr. were led out by some of the guards. To their amazement one of them was Aamira and Quill's friend Tal. They had taken up a habit, though not necessarily a good one, of staying up late and talking about investigations they had been on in the past. Somewhere along the line, their mission in the Jester Village had come up and they mentioned Tal.

"Tal's a suspect?" Roy asked.

"Which one's Tal?" Sandshrew asked his brother.

"The one on the far right." Roy thought for a minute then added hastily, "The one with the hat."

"These five have all been acting somewhat suspicious lately." Leef said. "Each of them has been missing practice for their groups for either one reason or another. It's a bit different than how we narrowed them down last time, but these five are the only ones it can be. All five of them missed their last practice session and each of the practice sessions happened at the same time and during the last robbery. I hope that helps."

"Strange, isn't it?" Mr. Mime asked the two of them. "The second from the right and the one in the middle are Jake and Rolland, the two last suspects from the last time. There's also Adam, on the far left and Rob, who's second from the left."

Roy wrote all of this down so he wouldn't get them mixed up. "Okay, that at least gives us somewhere to start. There can only be one liar, right? Since there are five suspects this might just work…" He started with questioning Adam. "Where were you during the last practice session?"

"I was at home helping my mom." Adam said. "She recently got sick and I was taking care of her."

"Adam's telling the truth." Rob said. "I ran to the store to buy some more props. All of ours mysteriously vanished. That's why I wasn't at practice. I saw Adam there buying some Oran and Pecha Berries."

Roy wrote this down also. "Alright, then where were you, Jake?"

"I was in the area where the last robbery happened…" Jake said guiltily. "But I didn't do it. Lots of Mime Jr. saw me there. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"He's telling the truth." Tal said. "I was in the area too, talking with one of my friends."

"You mean your girlfriend, Julie, don't you?" Rolland asked.

"Okay, so where were you?" Roy asked Rolland.

"I was with there with Jake." Rolland said. "A lot of people saw me."

"Wait, isn't Rolland a liar?" Sandshrew asked. "So that would mean he wasn't there at all."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that." Roy said.

"Heh, sorry." Rolland said. "I've tried to stop, but lying is just what I do best. It's my talent."

"So that would leave Tal and Jake." Roy said. "So Sandshrew, can you figure out which one it was?"

"It's Jake." Sandshrew said.

"That's right." Jake said. "It was all me. And unlike Rolland, I can only speak truthfully!"

"Well that was easy." Roy said. "But didn't he really lie? Or was he lying then? Oh this is so confusing for me…"

"Of course if it was him he'd have to admit to it since he tells the truth." Sandshrew said. All the Mime Jr. joined Roy and Sandshrew to separate themselves from Jake. But Rolland decided to stay there for some reason.

"But what if I were to say, it wasn't me? No way!" Rolland said.

Roy and Sandshrew looked between the two Mime Jr.

"But if Rolland is a liar, That would mean it would be him. But if he really is trying to tell the truth, it's not him at all." Roy looked as if he was about to have a panic attack. Aamira had mentioned this being somewhat fun, but he couldn't imagine it.

"My brother's so strange." Jake said suddenly. "It was him that did it, surely not me!"

"But it was you, my brother!" Rolland retorted. "Because truth and lies have already been sorted!"

"My brother's words are true." Jake frowned. "Or are they? It was me that did it, but earlier, what did I say?"

"Jake is so strange." Rolland said. "He didn't do it, so why drag this out? Look at him; he's actually starting to pout!"

"They're rhyming…" Sandshrew pointed out. "But this would mean… If jakes telling the truth, but Rolland tells lies…"

Sandshrew and Roy looked at each other. "They're both thieves!"

"Yes 'tis true!" They both said at once. "But truthfully, we're not impressed by you!" The two of them spun around each other so fast it made Roy and Sandshrew dizzy. "We have tricked you can't you see? Two brothers who rhyme and one perfect crime. But we've devised another scheme; steal the throne from the king and queen!"

Team Sandstone and the other Mime Jr. looked at the two of them in shock.

The two of them spun around each other again. "Truth and lies are now at an end, for your efforts we greatly commend. We'll turn ourselves in if you can answer us this; which one of us played the original tricks?"

"What do you think they mean by that?" Sandshrew asked Roy. There was a strange gleam in Rolland and Jake's eyes.

"I think they mean which one was captured last time." Roy said. "Which means it would be Rolland…" Roy looked between the two. "Oh no. All of that spinning around got them all mixed up. And they said they weren't going to go by their original truth and lie routine. Which means we have no way of knowing who's who because we weren't paying attention to the ways they were spinning."

Sandshrew pointed to the one on the left. "It's you, Rolland! I was paying attention."

"What?" Rolland and Jake both looked at Sandshrew in surprise. "You must have cheated!"

"This stinks." Jake said. "I can't even rhyme after that let down."

"No one's ever been able to win our game before. And I feel the same way you do, my brother." Rolland said.

"But wait, my brother, I know what it is. We asked them too quickly to figure it out. We give you 'till tonight."

Both of them started talking at the same time in rhymes again. "In that time we will commit no crime. If in a few hours you can tell who's who, instead of turning ourselves in, we'll join you!"

"You mean join Team Sandstone?" Sandshrew asked. "It might be good to have someone like you two on our team, I have to admit. Ex criminals could probably help us solve other cases like this."

"For now we're sorry we have to go." Both of them said. "But your time starts now." Rolland pulled out a remote with a button on it "So on with the show! And we can assure you it will be us who wins because you can't stop the Trickster Twins!"

Jake pushed the button that Rolland was still holding and a pitfall opened up under Roy, Sandshrew, and the three remaining Mime Jr.

Rolland had run off already but Jake waited for a minute. "You two are lucky, I hope you know that. But for now, so long you sandy little rat!" Jake ran off after his brother before anyone could stop him.

Roy, Sandshrew, and the three Mime Jr. all pulled themselves out of the pitfall.

"Who knew?" Mr. Mime said to them. "Twins are unusual for Mime Jr, but I had no idea that those two were brothers, yet it's my job to know everyone here."

"For now at least, it looks like we're in the clear." Tall groaned and slapped his forehead. "This rhyming this is contagious I think. Someone stop me if I do it again."

"He called me a rat…" Sandshrew said gloomily. "Big brother, can you believe that?"

"Please! Stop!" Tal said.

"But what I can't believe is that Team Sleuth actually made a mistake the last time…" Roy said. "I've always looked up to them; it's so hard to believe."

"They didn't make a mistake." Tal said. "It was my fault, you see. I can still remember how it happened so clearly." Tal shouted out in frustration. The other Mime Jr. all laughed at him. "Anyway, I remember when Rolland and Jake were the two remaining suspects. Someone actually asked if it was possible for there to be more than one thief. Aamira later said that she wondered whether it would be possible for there to be more than one thief because we all look alike, but she was confident because of Wurmple that one of them was a liar and that liar was a thief. That's why it's my fault. I convinced them that the thief had to be a liar so they thought it was only Rolland. I hadn't thought that a thief could tell the truth too."

"There's something else too that I just realized." Mr. Mime said. "After they had been narrowed down to Jake and Rolland, Aamira said that by now the one telling the truth knew who the thief was. The two of them each pointed to the other and said 'it's him'. That's how they tricked us. Jake was telling the truth because Rolland really was a thief, but Rolland was still lying because Jake wasn't the ONLY thief. They used a half-truth paradox so only one of them would be found guilty. It's almost amazing how they were looking out for each other to make sure one of them got away. So now at least we know the game that they play." Mr. Mime covered his mouth. "I did it again!"

"There's something else though." Roy said. "Since they said they weren't going to use their usual truth and lie trick anymore, we can't use that to figure out who's who."

"Sorry to interrupt." Bella said. "But isn't it possible for Riolu to sense aura?"

"They were both the same." Roy said. "I couldn't tell them apart to save my life."

"But I could tell them apart." Sandshrew said. "I think it's because of my secret though, so…"

"Sandshrew, I don't care what people would say if they knew your secret; you're the most credible pokemon I know and nothing could change that." Roy smiled at his brother.

Sandshrew looked at the ground. "Maybe that's what he meant. Before running off Jake shouted down at us saying that we were lucky…"

"What do you mean?" Roy asked.

"They want to be told apart. But they don't want to be different either. They both love their brother too much. They said we were lucky because we're a Riolu and Sandshrew and anyone could easily tell us apart. They're jealous I think because they're so much alike but at the same time they want to be alike."

"You think so?" Roy asked sadly. It seemed confusing, but he could tell that these two brothers were probably inseparable most of the time.

"I can't take it any more, brother." Jake said to Rolland later on. Both were sitting outside the city on a rock by a lake. "Why can't anyone tell us apart? When we were committing crimes surely they would have noticed something then…"

"But they didn't." Rolland reminded him. "If that Sandshrew can win our game again we won't make it that easy. He'll have to give us a reason as to how he knew."

"I hope he does figure it out. Either people can't accept us as twins or they can't tell us apart. I hate it." Jake picked up a rock and threw it angrily into the lake. "And you remember that Aamira and Quill? They're not even brother and sister and they still see each other that way! That's just adding insult to injury if you ask me…"

"If you ask me, they might have it worse." Rolland said.

"What? You don't believe that old rumor, do you?"

"They act like they're truly brother and sister, so actually, I do." Rolland laughed. "Look at us; we're even starting to rhyme absentmindedly. You know, I won't even care anymore if they can't figure it out. We exist as one entity, the Trickster Twins, and at the same time we're still Jake and Rolland; two separate entities."

"Yea, what's wrong with living that way?" But Jake looked into the water of the lake uncertainly.

Night had fallen a while ago. Team Sandstone was waiting for the Trickster Twins to come back like they said they would. The other Mime Jr. had all decided to wait there too. They all wanted to see how this would play out and guard over the king and queen in addition to their regular guards while they were there.

The Trickster Twins came back like they said they would. Sandshrew got up and walked towards them. Both of them crossed their arms and they stood in front of Sandshrew.

"We'll start our game now." One of them said.

"Only this time there's a bit of a twist."

"Now you won't be told who's who before hand."

"And besides that you also have to give an explanation as to why you think we are who we are."

"Alright." Sandshrew said. He wasn't looking at them but rather at the ground as if trying to figure out who was who by the size of their feet.

"Now you must tell us." They both said at the same time. "Which one of us is Rolland."

Sandshrew continued to look at their feet and didn't speak for a while.

'Does he really think he can tell them apart by their feet?' Tal wondered. 'Aamira tried that when they were trying to find out who was who.'

After a while Sandshrew raised his hand and pointed to the Mime Jr. on the right. "It's you."

"Why do you say it's him?" The one on the left asked.

"Rolland's voice is slightly lower pitched than Jake's." Sandshrew said.

The two of them looked at each other. "Our voices?"

The other Mime Jr. were all muttering quietly to each other. The voices didn't sound different at all to them.

"Our voices are the same!" Jake said. "You cheated again!"

"There's only one way to tell." Rolland said. The two of them started spinning around each other too fast to keep track of them.

"Whose who?" The both asked at the same time. Sandshrew pointed to the one on the right again. "IMPOSSIBLE!"

"They're voices don't sound different at all to me." Leef said.

"Does it have something to do with that secret you mentioned earlier?" Mr. Mime asked.

"I knew it!" Jake said.

"You were cheating!"

"You're trying to sound happy by the news, aren't you?" Sandshrew said. "But I can hear the disappointment in your voice, because you two wanted to be told apart, am I right?"

Neither of them replied.

"The reason I can tell your voices are slightly different…" Sandshrew looked up at them and smiled nervously and waved a paw in front of his face. "You might not be able to tell, but I'm completely blind."

The eyes of everyone in the room widened slightly and they all looked at Sandshrew in surprise, including Rolland and Jake who seemed to be looking at him with pity.

"Earlier you said you were paying attention to the way we were spinning. You can't be blind!" Rolland said.

"I heard your feet on the floor. Without my sight all my other senses are enhanced. I can tell you two apart better than if I could see you."

"I can't believe it…" Jake said. As if by cue, the two of them started spinning around each other again. This time they didn't say anything and Sandshrew knew they wanted him to guess again. This time he pointed to the one on the right.

"It's true…" They both said. "You really can tell us apart." They burst into tears. "Finally! After all of these years!"

"Is that why you went around stealing stuff?" Bella asked. "You just wanted people to notice you and be able to tell you apart?"

"Yes." They both said. "Please forgive us!"

"We forgive you." Leef said.

"I'm sorry for calling you a rat earlier." Jake said. "I know full well you're actually a mouse."

"You said we were lucky." Sandshrew said. "You said that because people could tell us apart. But I don't have the slightest inkling of what my brother even looks like. The point is we all have our problems. And maybe now we can deal with them together and help to solve other people's problems."

"What do you mean?" They both asked at the same time.

Roy smirked. "Do you really think we could just let you off the hook completely just on an apology? Besides, you lost the game. That means you have to join Team Sandstone."

"Gladly!" They both said. "We would be honored to be on your team!"

"So they're still not back yet?" Aamira asked Electivire. Her and Quill had just gotten back from a mission. She was sure that Team Sandstone would be back by then.

"You know what those Mime Jr. are like." Electivire said. "I have no idea when they'll be back."

At that exact moment the door to the base opened up and Team Sandstone came in followed by a couple of Mime Jr.

"Wait, there are two?" Aamira said confused. "Is one of them Rolland?"

"One of us is." They both said at the same time. "Can you guess who it is?"

Aamira looked between the two. "Uhh…" She crossed her arms in thought. "Wow, even your auras are the same. No, I can't."

Both of them laughed. "The answer is to look with your heart, that way even a blind pokemon can tell us apart."

"That's not exactly how it happened." Sandshrew said.

"Yea, but heart rhymes with apart." One of them said.

"So… Wait… Sandshrew was the one that said it wasn't how it happened…" Aamira said. "Sandshrew's blind?"

"You figured it out that easily?" Sandshrew asked.

"I thought you looked sort of sad yesterday when you mentioned the stars, but then I thought I must have just imagined it." Aamira said.

"You didn't." Roy said. "Sandshrew wants to know what the stars look like, but obviously I can't describe them because he wouldn't know how to imagine my description."

"That's so sad…" Quill said. "I had no idea…"

"No one knew." Sandshrew said. "I was afraid if people knew I was blind we wouldn't be allowed to form an Investigation Team together. But when my improved sense of hearing helped us solve this mystery, I thought there wasn't much of a reason to hide it anymore."

"Or voices are slightly different. Even we didn't know." The two Mime Jr. said. "We stole things hoping that someone would be able to tell us apart. We're ashamed to say our plan technically worked…"

"So, wait." Aamira said. "There were two thieves all along?"

"Tal told us to apologize for him." Roy said. "You suspected that there was more than one thief but he told you the thief must have been a liar. He didn't think one could be honest. When Jake said it wasn't him he was still technically telling the truth because it wasn't just him but him and his brother. There was no way you could have known."

"So we should have just convicted them both." Quill said.

"Wait, did you think I was serious about that?" Aamira said. "I wouldn't want to send an innocent pokemon to prison! It was a trap, remember?"

"Oh, right…" Quill said.


	8. Chapter 8 Noctowl's Thoughts

"So you two are leaving?" Roy asked Aamira and Quill. "I thought you would at least be sticking around for a while."

"Not after finding this." Quill held up a treasure called the Spark-Gem. "Can you believe it was actually in the Gold Chamber?"

"Yea, no wonder it's been missing for so long." Aamira said. "So we're going to be leaving to go to Tempestas. We'll ask to take the Icy-Gem and give them the Spark-Gem in return. Then we'll have to go to Glacies to give them the Icy-Gem. Charmeleon said we can wait to bring the Fiery-Gem to Ignis because we'll be going there soon anyway.

"Why's that?" Sandshrew asked.

"He won't tell us." Quill said. "I even asked Typhlosion a few times and he still won't tell me. All they'll say is that it will be in about a week."

"I hope you get back in time." Sandshrew said. "They said that they were going to invite us for… They said they were going to invite us."

"You know!" Aamira said. "Admit it! You know what's going on!"

"Alright, I know what it is." Sandshrew said slyly. "Doesn't mean I'll tell you. I heard them whispering about it at dinner last night."

"You'll tell me, won't you?" Roy asked.

"Nope! I found out by accident so either you have to do the same or wait for them to tell you what's going on."

Roy groaned.

"Aamira, we have to get going. We said we'd be there by tomorrow night." Quill said.

"We've got time." Aamira said. "But since you're so impatient I guess we can go now."

After a quick run around through town the two of them set off. It seemed weird not to have any of their team members along. They hadn't been alone on a mission at all since they first started working at Special Services. It seemed too quiet now with it being just the two of them. So to pass the time they asked each other questions that the other one would have to try to figure out.

"So if Desolo looked the way it did when we were there and that was when aura was being distorted, what do you think it looks like now?" Quill asked Aamira.

Aamira thought for a moment. "I don't know… It seemed so bright and happy when we were there. You'd think since that was where the aura distortion started it would have been the worst, but maybe it was because Mismagius hadn't found a way to get back there yet."

"Yea, maybe…"

"Okay." Aamira said. "If you're wondering what Desolo looks like now, what do you think Atra looks like?"

"That's a hard question… It's the world of darkness and since we've only been there once I can't really imagine it looking any other way. Of course Lucario said it had two moons. I wonder what they look like. Like ours, maybe? And the stars. Maybe it finally stopped raining there and maybe the clouds are gone. I don't think it would be so bad to live under a starlit sky all the time. And with the Solar Flowers it must look really pretty."

"Do you think that maybe the other plants have started to grow back? They use the energy from the solar flowers, don't they? And we know there are other types of plants besides them because we saw that daisy."

"Yea, maybe." Quill said. "So where do you think Daisy wondered off to?"

"I hadn't thought about that much. You'd think that I would have though since she used to be a childhood friend. Maybe it's because I can't remember. Maybe she's off looking for flowers somewhere? That's the only thing I can think of. Where do you think the other treasures are?"

"They could be anywhere, couldn't they? Even at the bottom of the sea like Roy said they might. I hope not." Quill shuddered at the thought of water. He tried to think of a question, but one didn't come too easily for him. They had already asked all of the questions they had been wondering about except for what Honchkrow might be doing and how Aamira reappeared, which neither of them had the slightest idea of. "What do you think Lucario's doing?" he asked after a while and immediately regretted it.

Aamira didn't answer. Instead she turned away from Quill and looked straight ahead with a distant look in her eyes.

'I shouldn't have mentioned it…' Quill thought. 'She's been sort of upset over Lucario for a while now. I sort of get why too. He gave himself up so save Aamira and everyone else and now that Aamira's eyes look like Lucario's she can't even look into a mirror without thinking about him.'

They set up camp a few hours later. Aamira still wasn't saying anything though. Truthfully she was actually thinking about what Quill had said. She couldn't stop wondering if she really saw Lucario sometimes or if it was some sort of trick. It wouldn't have surprised her if it really was a trick. It scared her how much untrusting she had become because of everything and until then she hadn't even noticed.

Aamira waited for Quill to fall asleep until sneaking off on her own for a while. Why was she making such a big deal out of this? It seemed almost unnatural.

After a while of searching she had found the lake Glameow had showed her. They were going the same direction as they had before. The lake really was relaxing, but something about it darkened the atmosphere slightly.

She sat on the edge of the lake where she had the last time she was there. She looked down into the lake at her Lucario-like eyes. It was strange. Before whenever she touched one of the treasures her eyes would change color, either to match the treasure's color or the eye color of the legendary pokemon sealed inside. But they hadn't changed at all from the Fiery-Gem and the Spark-Gem. What was different now?

A breeze blew across the water from behind Aamira. Ripples formed along the surface of the water and Aamira shivered from the chilly nighttime air. Then something seemed to glow from the center of the lake. Something transparent rose out of it and flew around. It looked so cool that Aamira couldn't take her eyes off of it. The transparent figure turned around a few times before spotting Aamira and stopping.

'You seem troubled.' A voice said. It was obviously telepathy. It was as if Aamira could hear it in her mind, as if someone were guiding the way she thought.

"It's nothing." Aamira said.

'You are dealing with many conflicting emotions. Fear for the past, worry for the future. Am I right?' It asked.

"How do you know so much?"

'I see things. I see your spirit. It drew me from the lake bottom. We do not get many of your sort around here. It made me worry. But now I see there is nothing to worry about. And perhaps you should not worry either?'

"I have reasons to worry. If you live at the bottom of the lake all the time, how would you know what it's like?"

'I see much. I see far. I see more than you can ever know. I see the spirits of pokemon across the world. I see the joy and sadness in their hearts. I see goodness and evil. I see light… and dark. So how could you say I do not know?'

"If that's true, then can you tell me what I have to do? Why am I feeling this way? What can I do to stop it?"

'Why stop it?'

This answer slightly irritated Aamira. "What do you mean? I feel horrible. Of course I want to stop it."

'I wonder why. I not only see joy and sadness, but love too. And I have the feeling that you have seen it too.'

"Love?" Aamira's face turned slightly red. "Yes. I miss Lucario. I wish I knew where he was… I wish I could see him again."

'Be careful what you wish for. Is that not what they say? A wish can only carry you so far. Your emotions are reasonable. Why want to change them? You fear for the past and worry for the future. Remember this: the past is where are memories come, the future is where our dreams lay, but live for the moment for it is truly a gift, which is why it's called "present".'

Something about this seemed to stir something inside Aamira. She didn't know what it was but she liked it. "So it's normal to worry, but I shouldn't let my worries get the best of me."

The ghost-like figure in the lake seemed to be laughing, though Aamira couldn't hear anything. 'Strange how you would see it that way. I like you a lot. You are different than most people I see. Never change that.' The ghostly figure did a flip in the air and vanished.

Aamira stood up suddenly. "Wait, what do you mean!" But the figure in the lake had vanished.

Then Aamira remembered what Glameow had told her the last time they came here. "A little ways away from here is this amazing lake. Some people think a legendary pokemon lives in it."

'A legendary pokemon? One that lives in a lake that can read emotions?' Aamira knew what it must have been. She turned to leave then shouted to the pokemon. "Thank you, Mesprit!"

The next night they arrived in Tempestas. Though neither of them had any intentions of letting the feelings from the previous day persist, the awkward silence had continued until they arrived. After they had arrived Aamira couldn't help it. She flinched back when she saw the way the pokemon looked there. They all looked tough and had a malicious gleam in their eyes. Most had at least two or three scars.

"They look like bounty hunters!" Aamira said, not even bothering to keep her voice down. A few pokemon nearby who heard this laughed. "They even laugh like bounty hunters…"

One of them laughed especially loud and patted Aamira on the head a little harder than was necessary. "Little Riolu from down south! Yeh can't trust no one, remember that! Half of the people here might jus' be bounty hunters!" he laughed ridiculously loud again.

"You're a Ludicolo, aren't you?" Quill asked a little nervously. "All the one's I've seen before now looked a bit weird but you look… strong…"

"I s'pose I should take that as a compliment!" he laughed again, still patting Aamira on the head.

"I don't like this…" Aamira said under her breath. She didn't dare make a move that might get all of these pokemon in an uproar.

"An' don't try to act polite either! People will walk all over you!" Ludicolo continued without hearing what Aamira had said.

"Well, if you insist." Aamira grabbed his had, threw Ludicolo into the air and onto the ground.

He laid there, looking stunned for a second, before clapping his hand to his head and bursting into laughter. All the other pokemon around did the same. "Ah, I should've expected as much from yeh! Team Sleuth? Of course yeh'd be strong!"

"You're no weakling either." Aamira said. "Last person I did that to was unconscious."

"It was one of our own team members!" Quill said. "He drives us insane."

Everyone continued laughing. The thought of the bounty hunters soon left Aamira's mind and a new thought came to her. 'I wonder if this is how pirates act…' They sure did have the look of pirates, at least.

"How pathetic… So this is the famous Team Sleuth."

The two of them turned towards the voice. Everyone else had apparently recognized the voice because the laugher immediately died down.

"Pathetic! And I'd like to see how strong you are!" Quill said. Everyone seemed to be staring at him now, except Aamira who was still staring at the figure standing in an alleyway.

"Is that so?" A Raichu came out of the alley and used Thunder Punch on Quill, throwing him back across the street. Quill yelped and started whimpering on the ground.

"Quill!" Aamira ran over to him to make sure he was alright. He seemed to be paralyzed and in a lot of pain. Aamira turned back to Raichu. "Hey, who do you think you are!"

"Who do I think I am?" Raichu turned to look at her directly for the first time. He looked a lot tougher than the normal Raichu, probably due to the large scar on the side of his face and his eyes that seemed completely empty of any light. "Well I'm not entirely sure, but I think I might be the elder of Tempestas."

That arrogant Raichu… He seemed completely emotionless and uncaring, as if the only thing he cared about was getting more powerful. It wouldn't have surprised Aamira if he had taken down a member of his own family just to get the elder title. Then she realized how likely this would be. Normally only older and wiser pokemon were elders, but maybe Tempestas was different…

"Special Services or not, you're still outsiders and you're not welcome here." Raichu said. "Give me one good reason I should let the two of you leave here alive."

Elder or not, Aamira didn't have any respect for someone who hurt any of her friends. "Forget it. We'll just leave. I should've guessed what sort of place this would be; low classed and barbaric. It's not even worth our time."

"Aamira. I don't think it would be a good idea to upset this guy…" Quill said.

"Why not? Maybe he's just too scared to make a move. I mean, if he wasn't don't you think he would have attacked me by now?"

"You're so pathetic…" Raichu said. "You really think you can try my temper? I attack when I feel like it and I know no one else would dare try attack me."

Aamira attacked with Drain Punch. Raichu seemingly disappeared into thin air right before she could land her attack, but then she felt someone pinching her on the back of her neck. It was a bad pressure point for Riolu apparently and made it hard for Aamira to move.

"Well apparently you're not smart enough to know not to attack me." Raichu said in the same uncaring and emotionless voice. It would have almost sounded like gloating had his voice not been so serious all the time. Raichu let go and Aamira stumbled forward. Normally someone like this would have been able to rattle her a little at least, but because of that defiant tone Aamira almost as if it were some sort of challenge to get an emotional response out of him.

"Now I'll ask you one more time." Raichu said. "Why is it that you came here?"

"Stop this!" Quill said. "We came here to give you something, that's all!"

"To give us something?" Raichu said. "How strange. Why couldn't you have just said that from the beginning. It would have kept me from attacking your for the moment at least."

"But the thing is, we came here to ask you for something too. Sort of like a trade…" Quill said.

'What's he doing?' Aamira thought. 'How can Quill stand this guy?'

"Well so far you're not exactly on my good side. Why should I—"

"Raichu." A shape appeared in the sky above them and landed in front of them. "I'd appreciate it if you not try to permanently disable one of the best Investigation Teams from Sylva."

"Noctowl!" Quill and Aamira said.

"It's been too long." He said with a warm smile, though he still seemed a little rattled by what had happened right before they left to save the world. "I thought you would at least come to Sylva every now and then to say hello to everyone."

"We've been kind of busy." Quill said.

"Noctowl." Raichu said in the same emotionless voice. "While I've allowed you to come here strictly on diplomatic reasons, these two weren't invited. Are you trying to pull something or are they here for another reason?"

"I have a feeling it has something to do with why I'm here, but it was none of my doing." Noctowl said.

Quill dug around in his bag and pulled out the Spark-Gem. "This is why we came here. To give this to you and take the Icy-Gem to Glacies."

"Take the Icy-Gem?" Raichu said. "What for? Articuno's already returned and the Icy-Gem, under our protection, was the only treasure that wasn't stolen."

"Not the only one." Noctowl said. "One of Sylva's survived. Because until recently no one even knew it existed."

"Sylva's got another treasure?" Quill asked.

"We think so." Noctowl said. "Though the inscriptions on the temple door suggest that there's a treasure, no one has been able to open it yet. Which means whoever found it last must have sealed it."

"Figures…" Aamira said. "So Mismagius got to this one and no one even knew it existed?"

"Mismagius didn't have any idea this treasure existed." Noctowl said. "She searched for it every time she came to Sylva. I allowed her to search because I didn't believe whatever she was looking for would be used for malice. But apparently either Lucario had no intention of letting her know where it was, or couldn't even find it himself."

Aamira remembered the first day she saw Lucario. Mismagius was having him look for something around the lake, but he said he couldn't find it no matter how many times he scanned the area with his aura. Aamira had figured that he had been looking for some hidden entrance to Desolo, but maybe not.

"But if Mismagius didn't know where it was, who sealed it? Could it have been another Aura Reader?" Quill asked.

"Possibly." Noctowl said. "But I have a theory. The legendary pokemon used to protect the balance of the world. If they're released from the treasures they're sealed inside the aura distortion might fix itself faster. But it's risky. A lot of the legendary pokemon used to fight each other and triggered cataclysmic disasters. But there were always other legendary pokemon that came along to keep the peace between certain legendary pokemon. So in order to protect the peace, some pokemon will have to be awakened in a specific order."

"I never agreed to this." Raichu said. "If you can reawaken our legendary pokemon, then fine, but you're not taking the Icy-Gem."

"And where would you keep it?" Noctowl asked. "Only one treasure can be in the temple. I propose a test. If they can find the treasure that Zapdos guarded, they can take the Icy-Gem. Is that fair enough?"

Raichu glanced at Quill and Aamira for a second. "And what makes you think they'll be able to do it?"

"Well Glacies was certain that Aamira was the chosen one." Noctowl said.

"Prove it." Raichu said. "Hold the Spark-Gem."

Quill handed the Spark-Gem to Aamira. It immediately started glowing on the inside.

"Possibly…" Raichu said. "Did the Icy-Gem glow?"

"She never had to hold the Icy-Gem." Noctowl said. "But according to the legend the crystal of hope glows only in the hands of the true chosen one. If Aamira comes back with the Icy-Gem and it glows in her hands, then she is the true chosen one."

"If Aamira is the chosen one I will let you take the Icy-Gem. If not it stays with us."

"What?" Quill said. "But it sounds like you're just leaving this mostly to chance…"

Thunder rumbled somewhere above them.

"Do I make myself clear? That is my condition. The crystal leaves only with the chosen one!" Raichu said.

"Uh, yea sure!" Quill said. 'He didn't make that thunder happen! That's not possible!'

"The dungeons leading up to the Temple of Tempestas are treacherous. I'll accompany you to the temple, but the rest will be up to the two of you." Noctowl said. "Is that agreeable, Raichu?"

"Fine." Raichu said. Still his voice didn't change in the slightest. "Long ago, deep in the Lightning Temple, lived the thunder spirit. She was ruthless, but fair and served as a symbol of strength for Tempestas. It was said that around this time of year storm clouds would gather and lightning would strike the mountain giving all of the electric type pokemon strength beyond measure. It reminded everyone of the true power they had inside. Before the thunder spirit came along, the pokemon of Tempestas were the weakest. After it showed up, the electric type pokemon began to think of themselves as gods. The thunder spirit didn't like this and punished them. Now every year we must fight amongst ourselves to get rid of the built up energy before it destroys us."

Quill shivered. "The beginning sounded a lot like Glacies's legend. But that ending sounded…. Why would anyone want to live like that?"

"War has become part of Tempestans. Without being able to fight with true power, war will spread to other parts of the earth, like it did long ago. You heard about how Pacis was formed, didn't you?"

Quill and Aamira both shivered this time.

"But for the past few years now, lightning has not struck here!" Raichu said. "It has something to do with this distortion of aura. Chosen one or not, if the lightning doesn't come back and we can't fight amongst ourselves again in the Thunder Festival, I doubt anyone will be able to take it much longer. We'll take the war to Chalybs to test our power!"

Some of the pokemon around them started cheering madly.

"Well now you know the legend." Noctowl said. "We'll be going then."

"Noctowl…" Quill said after a while. "I don't understand. Why would they want to fight like this? Just when we thought everyone could live in peace they want to start a war?"

"They never believed there could be peace." Noctowl said. "They don't get involved with anything or anyone else anywhere else in the world unless it benefits them in some way. After being unable to hold their festival for the past few years it makes sense. They're getting bored and want to do something to prove their power."

"I still don't understand why anyone would want to live like that." Quill said. "Aamira, you're humming again."

"Huh?" Aamira was snapped out of the trance she had just fallen into. "What do you mean again?"

"When we were in Glacies you started humming a song and it ended up being the way into the deeper part of the temple. You know, I'm starting to think maybe you really are this chosen one."

"How does that legend go anyway?" Aamira asked. "The one about the chosen one."

"I'm surprised you don't know it." Noctowl said. "I thought you knew a lot about the legendary pokemon."

"Dare not disturb the harmony of fire, ice, and lightning less these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash. The guardian will rise to quell the fighting but alone its song shall fail, thus the earth will turn to ash." Quill said. "Is that the one? Aamira, you do know it. You mentioned the last part of it before. You mentioned bringing together the three treasures, remember?"

"Oh, that's what that legend comes from." Aamira said. "Don't you remember? I told you before that bringing together the three treasures was the only part I could remember. But if we bring Zapdos and Moltres back, would Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres start fighting?"

"I don't think so." Noctowl said. "After all the tragedy, I think all they'll really want is for Lugia to return. But he hasn't been seen for a long time either."

Aamira slowed down at the mention of Lugia. "I feel… Weird. Like I forgot something important. Maybe I really am the chosen one?"

"How many legends are you in?" Quill asked.

"It would be easier if we knew that way we could just go around saving the world one legend at a time…"

Noctowl laughed. "Everyone has a destiny. Perhaps your earlier triumph was only a test. Perhaps your true destiny is still waiting for you to find it. And maybe that's why you returned."

"If only we could know for sure." Aamira stopped suddenly. "You know, I haven't been able to use my abilities at all since I came back. What if I can't use Aura Release to free Zapdos?"

"Well, we'll just have to hope it does work. It makes sense that you wouldn't be able to use your abilities though. Lucario said your aura was incomplete. You could only use your abilities before because Lucario was around, you had that scarf, or some of Lucario's aura was in the Nightmare Gem."

Aamira grabbed the nightmare gem tied to the medal collar around her neck. "But his aura isn't in the Nightmare Gem anymore. So what if I can't use my ability?"

Noctowl laughed. "Well we didn't want to tell Raichu you can't use your abilities, did we? That's why I said I was just coming along to guard you. But luckily I have a silver aura so you should be able to use your abilities."

The whole time they traveled, Noctowl entertained them with stories of when he was younger and a member of both Team Night and Team Psy. When they stopped for the night he even reenacted some of his funnier or greater adventures. It took them a while to finally be able to get to sleep. Noctowl, apparently, never slept and stayed up that night.

"Aamira." He said softly to wake her up. She woke up shaking, like she did a lot lately. "Are you alright? It looked like you were having a nightmare."

"Always the same one. I think it might be something from my past, but I can't remember anything about it." Aamira said. "You know, I just remembered, Lucario told me once that the Nightmare Gem started giving me nightmares which was why he made me that scarf."

"And you still want to wear the Nightmare Gem?" Noctowl asked.

"If I am having dreams about my past, maybe it would give me my memory back." Aamira said. "And besides, it did used to belong to Lucario. And I remember before I used to have nightmares whether I was around it or not."

"Strange." Noctowl said. "Will all mysteries come to an end? I certainly hope not. That would make life feel so empty. I think pokemon will always be happy as long as they have something they feel they have to figure out."

"What do you mean 'they feel they have to figure out'?"

"Do you really need to get your memory back? Who knows, maybe there was something important you knew that would really help people. But maybe not. Though I suppose that will always be part of the mystery." He looked down at her and was surprised to see that she didn't look confused in the slightest. "Do you want to know what the greatest mystery is?"

"Is there really such a thing?" Aamira asked.

"Yes, I'm sure there is. Maybe there's even one greater than this, but it's what someone asked me a long time ago. The greatest mystery, perhaps, is why there are mysteries in the first place."

"Well no one can know everything."

"True, but it really makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

Aamira laughed for the second. "You know what I think the greatest mystery is? I think the greatest mystery would be what the greatest mystery is."

Noctowl noticed the spark in Aamira's eye. 'I miss that spark so much. If only I could get it back, but what if I make another mistake? But Aamira and Quill have made mistakes. Based on what Quill said, it was only because of them that Mismagius had gotten to Desolo and they were able to fix it. Maybe I shouldn't be so afraid to make mistakes…'

"Are you okay?" Aamira was still smiling and obviously hadn't sensed what Noctowl was thinking.

"Yes, of course." He noticed Quill stirring, meaning he was probably about to wake up. "We should get going. From here we should make it to the temple by noon."

After Quill woke up, the three of them got ready to leave. Noctowl followed behind them to continue thinking. 'When I get back to Sylva, I think I'll restart Team Psy. Maybe I'll even go on an adventure with Team Night some time.' He shook his head and was thankful Aamira and Quill hadn't noticed this. 'Noctowl, my old friend, what kind of elder are you? Not only are you beginning to think of this Riolu as being a bit wiser than yourself, even in your old age, but you're actually learning something from her as well. It wouldn't surprise me if she was the true chosen one. After all, in the legend, the chosen one is a human…'


	9. Chapter 9 Dark Reader

Far in the northern part of the continent was a mountainous country called Tempestas. The main part of Tempestas rested on the second highest mountain. The taller mountain behind it hid the Thunder Temple, the previous home to the spirit of thunder, Zapdos.

"So how big is Zapdos?" Quill asked, obviously feeling a bit nervous. "If it symbolizes power to the pokemon in Tempestas, it must be kind of terrifying, right?"

"Actually, if what I've learned of Zapdos is accurate, Zapdos would be no taller than me." Noctowl said.

"That's actually kind of short as far as legendary pokemon go, isn't it?" Quill asked.

"Not necessarily." Aamira said. "How could you say that after Shaymin? There are quite a few small legendary pokemon. Zapdos would actually be somewhere in the middle, I think."

"Keep in mind, this is only based on speculation." Noctowl said. "Who knows how big she and the other two bird pokemon might have grown in all of the time they've been sealed inside of their gems?"

"Well it doesn't really matter…" Quill said. "After Raichu I might start having nightmares of electric type pokemon."

"You can't let him rattle you!" Aamira said. "Come on, he's obviously full of himself."

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Noctowl asked. "Something horrible happened to him once. Now it's not that he acts as if he has no emotions; he really has no emotions."

"What?" Quill said. "How's that possible?"

"Below the mountains is a lake where a legendary pokemon is said to live." Noctowl said. "This pokemon is the being of emotion. When Raichu came searching for a greater power, he challenged that legendary pokemon. It warned him against fighting it, but Raichu didn't listen. The two of them fought and Raichu ended up winning."

"Wow, Raichu defeated a legendary pokemon?" Quill asked. "So what happened?"

"The being of emotion is Mesprit." Aamira said. "According to Mesprit's legend, whoever touches it will lose all of their emotions after three days. So that happened to Raichu?"

"Yes." Noctowl said. "At first he felt horrible for what he had done, knowing he had injured an innocent pokemon and that he wouldn't feel sorry at all after three days. Those three days must have made him mad. But on the third day, he felt no guilt for what he had done, and he cared nothing for everything else. This is what he told me: 'Losing my emotions was the best thing that could have ever happened. Now I can get stronger without anything to hold me back.' I truly felt sorry for him, because he had forgotten what was most important. Because of what Raichu had done, his son Pikachu had to suffer the neglect of his father. Now I doubt Pikachu even remembers what Raichu was like before then."

"That's horrible." Quill said. "He probably feels bad and doesn't even know it. He can't really think that it was the best thing that ever happened to him, because that would technically count as an emotion. So he can't feel anything."

"Exactly." Noctowl said. "He has become two thirds of a living being. He can't be thought of as truly living without even a single emotion. Anything that happens can be qualified as an emotion, because what do you feel if you have nothing to feel? Emptiness? But that would also qualify as an emotion. So now Raichu exists and nothing more."

"I sort of feel bad for the way I had thought of him before…" Aamira thought. "If only there was something I could do."

"I'm afraid there isn't. All legendary pokemon have a curse of some sort, and that curse either affects them or those closest to them. Sometimes even both. But being two thirds of a living being is perhaps the worst there is. Of course, there's also a legend associated with that."

"There is?" Aamira thought, but as hard as she tried to remember, she couldn't think of it. "What is it?"

"It's best you don't know. It's best no one knows actually. Not only would it bring harm to the legendary pokemon, but most likely death to any pokemon who try to fulfill the legend."

The two of them could tell Noctowl had no intention of telling them what the legend was, so they continued on. They reached the temple around noon. It didn't look all that impressive on the outside. On the inside though, it looked almost just like the Ice Temple in Glacies.

The place was made of a strange type of stone or metal. In the center was a pedestal that the Icy-Gem was floating above. There were a few pillars surrounding the platform it was built on top of. In the back were statues of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres all standing underneath a statue of Lugia.

"Okay, let's wake up Zapdos." Aamira said. "And see if I really am the chosen one." She added in a skeptical tone. She walked up onto the platform, took the Icy-Gem from its place, and replaced it with the Spark-Gem. The Icy-Gem's light faded in Aamira's hand. "I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. On one hand, this means I'm not the chosen one and that I was right all along, but on the other it means we can't take it with us."

"Well maybe Raichu will change his mind." Quill said.

"I doubt it." Noctowl said. "We might as well take it with us though, just in case a miracle happens."

Aamira nodded and put the Icy-Gem in her collection bag. "Alright, now we wake up Zapdos." She reached out her hand, but the instant she touched the Spark-Gem, she was hit by a bolt of electricity and thrown back. A thousand thoughts rushed into her mind at once.

'The pokemon here— Why don't— When will I be able to re— My—ear frie—olu. You shall travel fa— Th—ator must be st— they can't be a— to f— the ge— of li— The spa— of al— must be protected! To any who can hear this memory, stop the tr— his name is—'

Aamira sat up, panting hard. Her head was pounding.

"Are you alright?" Quill asked. "Where did that lightning bolt come from?"

"Oh how could I have forgotten?" Aamira asked. "Most electric type pokemon communicate using electricity!"

"Does that mean you heard Zapdos's memory this time?" Quill looked at her eyes. "Yea, you must have! You're eyes turned yellow."

"Yea, but it's never been like this before…" Aamira thought for a moment. "Actually, I take that back. It was just like with Suicune's Treasure. The memory must have been tampered with."

"Mismagius…" Quill said. "I should've known she had gotten here too…"

"But don't you think it's strange?" Aamira asked. "So far the only treasures with a tampered memory were the only ones that hadn't been stolen. It can't have been Mismagius. And I think Zapdos was thinking about a traitor. Zapdos said its name, but I couldn't hear it since the memory was tampered with. But Zapdos's memory definitely said 'his' name."

"So Mismagius didn't do it? Then maybe it's Honchkrow's new boss?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking…" Noctowl said. "Maybe Zapdos will be able to give us some information if we can revive him."

"I doubt it…" Aamira said. "Remember? Suicune couldn't remember after he was revived. And… the strange thing is… I never used Aura Release on Suicune's treasure…"

"Suicune is an Aura Reader, remember?" Noctowl said. "Entei, Raikou, and Suicune all were before they died and were brought back by Ho-oh. He was able to use his own power to bring himself back after you woke him up."

"No one tells us anything anymore…" Quill said. "Well now that you heard the memory maybe you'll be able to use Aura Restore."

"Okay…" Aamira walked up to it again. "Here it goes, again."

Aamira put her hands on the gem and concentrated. She felt the familiar feeling as if something were blocking her way. She reached out and snapped it in half and felt the gem's aura running again. She must have felt the aura of the Icy-Gem, but didn't even have a basic aura training then to know what it was.

Like in the other temple, the base of the statue glowed and a set of bells appeared.

"Bells again?" Quill walked over and was about to touch one of them.

"Stop!" Aamira said. "Remember what happened last time?"

Quill backed away from the bells hastily. "I almost forgot."

"It's that song I was humming earlier, remember? I bet that's the one that we have to play on these bells." Aamira started to play the song. While the bells in the Ice Temple sounded beautiful and pure, these sounded sinister and powerful. But like in the other temple, the pillars surrounding the pedestal started glowing according to which bell she played. At the end they all started glowing at once and the platform the pedestal was built on top of slid back to reveal a staircase."

"So this is what happened in Glacies?" Noctowl asked.

"This is exactly what happened." Quill said. "So then the treasure must be down here."

The three of them walked down into the temple's dungeon. Luckily it seemed to be about the same size as the other one, though the pokemon seemed a little stronger. They got through the dungeon without much of a problem and ended up in the temple's depths.

"Look, it's another of those paintings." Aamira pointed to the painting in the back of the room. It was like the one in Glacies only instead of an Articuno it was a Zapdos. Zapdos was flying in front of a carved out painting of the Spark-Gem. Behind Zapdos was the shadowy figure of Lugia and in the lower right corner was a Riolu looking up at Zapdos. "Well this should be easy."

The three of them walked towards the painting.

"HALT!" A voice echoed through the room.

"We forgot about the temple guardian." Quill said. The four of them turned to their left. A statue made of metal stepped off of its platform and walked towards them.

"HOW DARE YE DEFILE THE TEMPLE OF THE THUNDER SPIRIT!"

"Registeel…" Aamira said.

"Wait, defile it?" Quill said. "But Regice thought Aamira had actually been Articuno's Riolu guardian. Or is that the reason?"

"WHAT TRICKS HAVE YE PLAYED ON THE ICE GUARDIAN?" Registeel asked. "NONE SHALL PASS WITH AURA LIKE THOU'S. BLACK AS MIDNIGHT AND PURE EVIL. THOU SHALL NOT PASS HERE IN THIS LIFE!"

"Evil?" Aamira said. "Aura as black as midnight, what do you—?"

"SILENCE! THOU SHALL NOT TEST THE GUARDIANS! NO EVIL SHALL PASS!"

"We're not evil!" Quill said. "We're just—" Noctowl cut him off.

"I don't think he can be persuaded by words." Noctowl said to them. "It looks like a battle is inevitable."

Registeel attacked them with Ancient power. Aamira and Quill dodged to the side and Noctowl flew into the air.

"We're at a type advantage." Aamira said. Aamira used Aura Sphere. Registeel raised its arms and used Iron Defense.

Registeel used Lock On on Quill and followed up with Ancient Power. Quill tried to dodge but wasn't able to. Quill used Flame Wheel to counter, but Registeel used Iron Defense to counter.

Noctowl used Hypnosis. Aamira and Quill followed up by combining their Aura Sphere and Flame Thrower. Noctowl used Dream eater and Steelix woke up. Registeel used Lock On on Noctowl and followed up with Charge Beam. The attack was unavoidable and Noctowl fell out of the air. He struggled to get up and flew back into the air.

"Not used to this yet." Noctowl said. "Don't worry about me, you two!" Noctowl circled overhead while the three of them continued to fight on the ground.

Aamira used Aura Sphere, but Registeel used Iron Defense again. Quill used Flame wheel and knocked Registeel back. Apparently it was vulnerable after using Iron Defense. Noctowl attacked with Sky Attack, but didn't do much.

Registeel got up and used Ancient Power on Aamira. She was knocked into the wall, which partly collapsed and caught one of her feet. Aamira struggled to get free. Registeel was about to use Charge Beam, but Noctowl came to the rescue by using Extrasensory and causing Registeel to cringe. While it was cringing Aamira and Quill used their Aura Sphere and Flamethrower combo. Registeel used Charge Beam on Aamira before she could get free. Quill ran in front of her to block the attack.

"Quill!" Aamira shouted.

"You would attack someone when they can't fight back!" Quill shouted at Registeel.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT HONOR, ONLY MY DUTY AS A GUARDIAN!" It used Ancient Power on Quill and knocked him out of the way before using Charge Beam on Aamira.

Noctowl attacked using Sky Attack again. Registeel knocked him away using Iron Defense to cushion the impact of Sky Attack. Aamira was finally able to free herself, but only by using Force Palm and injuring herself. She used Quick Attack on Registeel, who wasn't able to block it in time. However, Registeel was so hard that it did more damage to Aamira.

Quill used Flame Wheel and followed up with Flamethrower. Noctowl used Hypnosis. Aamira and Quill used their combo again and Noctowl used Dream Eater before Registeel woke up. Registeel used Lock On then attacked Noctowl with Charge Beam again, this time knocking him out.

Quill attacked with Flame Wheel. Although Registeel protected itself with Iron Defense as usual, Aamira was able to jump above it and use Force Palm right when its Iron Defense faded.

Registeel fell back, unconscious. Quill and Aamira watched it for a minute to make sure it had been defeated, then ran to help Noctowl. After a while they got him to wake up.

"So we won?" Noctowl asked. "We defeated a legendary pokemon?"

"It looks that way!" Quill said happily. Why Registeel had attacked was still a bit of a mystery, but Quill could tell that this little adventure had excited the old Noctowl.

"Do you think he's okay?" Aamira asked them. "He was only doing his job…"

Registeel's "eyes" started glowing and he struggled to get up. "YE… SHAN'T… PASS!"

"Please!" Quill said. "Just tell us why you're attacking us!"

"RIOLU, WITH AURA AS DARK AS MIDNIGHT… YE COULD ONLY HAVE COME TO ATTACK MASTER ZAPDOS. I MUST PROTECT ZAPDOS!"

"Just listen!" Noctowl said. "Zapdos disappeared hundreds of years ago and this temple was sealed. We came to bring back Zapdos and the treasure he guarded!"

"THE TREASURE BE NO GOOD TO PETTY THIEVES!"

"We're not thieves!" Quill said. "We're only trying to revive Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. We already revived Articuno but Tempestas's leader took back the Icy-Gem. He said he'd only let us take it to Glacies if we found the treasure."

"YE CLAIM TO BE TRYING TO RESTORE ORDER, YET WHY ARE YE TRAVELING WITH AN EVIL ONE?"

"I'm not evil!" Aamira said. "Not that I know of anyway! And what do you mean my aura is dark? It's always been silver and gold."

"YE CLAIM TO BE AN AURA READER? IT WOULD MAKE SENSE SEEING AS HOW YE CAN USE THE POWER OF AURA. BUT YE NOT BE AN AURA READER. YE BE A DARK READER."

"Dark Reader?" Aamira asked. "I've never heard of anything like that."

"THEY BE THE EVIL VERSION OF AURA READERS. THE DARK VERSION. ONE OF THEM MUST'VE STOLEN MASTER ZAPDOS'S POWER! IT MUST BE YE WHO DONE IT!"

"But we told you!" Quill said. "Zapdos disappeared hundreds of years ago and we only came to revive him! If you don't believe us he'll never come back."

Registeel looked at them for a while. (At least they thought he did. It was hard to tell.) "IT BE NOT POSSIBLE FOR A DARK READER NOT TO BE EVIL. YE BOTH BE IN DANGER OF THAT ONE. I WILL CHOOSE TO TRUST YE, BUT NOT THE RIOLU. I'LL BE WATCHING THEE."

"Fine, just don't attack us again!" Aamira turned to look at the painting. Like in the other painting it was surrounded by some ancient writing. This time it was different though. "What…? What is this? I can read it."

"You can?" Quill asked. "But you couldn't read it in Glacies."

"Or in Divum if I remember correctly." Noctowl added.

"'Heart of gold and soul of silver. They alone have the power to restore the treasure. Lightning shall return to the rumbling thunder. With the power of lightning this gate shall fall and you'll see the spirit's wonder.'" Aamira said.

"Without a doubt." Noctowl said. "Are you sure no one taught you how to read this?"

"Yea, I'm pretty sure…" Aamira said. "What's going on…?"

"We'll figure it out." Quill said.

Aamira nodded and walked towards the painting. She did the same thing she did in Glacies. She tapped into the aura she borrowed from the Spark-Gem and used Aura Sphere on the painting of the Spark-Gem. The painting started to glow brightly enough to blind everyone. The ground started shaking and all of them but Registeel fell. When the shaking stopped they all got up.

"If this is like Glacies, the statues outside must have moved to reveal another staircase." Quill said.

Quill was right. And like the Ice Temple, it led outside to the other side of the mountain. On top was a set of large iron bells.

"YOU MUST KNOW THE SONG OR YOU COULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN THIS FAR." Registeel said. "PLAY IT NOW AND BRING THE LIGHTNING BACK TO THIS PLACE."

Aamira noticed that there was a chain attached to each of the bells. She pulled them all in order to play the song of Tempestas. Thunder rumbled overhead and the sky lit up with lightning that jumped from cloud to cloud. It started striking the mountain that Tempestas was built on in certain places according to which bell Aamira rang.

"This is so strange." Quill said. "It's eerie looking, but it looks cool at the same time. I see now why they see lightning as their treasure and Zapdos as a symbol of power."

They could hear pokemon shouting in excitement on the other mountain and saw them replying to the lightning with their own electrical attacks. After a while the bells started playing on their own and Aamira went over to join Quill and Noctowl. The sight was enchanting, but Aamira found she couldn't concentrate on it.

"I had no idea there was a dark version of an Aura Reader." Aamira said.

"When we were in Glacies we didn't even know what an Aura Reader was." Quill said. "But you were an Aura Reader before. What changed? You don't seem any different to me."

Aamira smiled. Quill couldn't possibly understand how much it meant to hear him say something like that. Or did he? He couldn't feel her emotions anymore, but he might as well have been able to. Quill knew her almost as well as Aamira knew herself.

"THOUGH I DON'T TRULY BELIEVE IT POSSIBLE, IT WOULD SEEM THAT YOU ARE A ONE OF A KIND GOOD DARK READER. BUT IS IT POSSIBLE?" Registeel said. "I FEAR WHAT YOU WILL BECOME IN THE FUTURE."

"I won't let myself change! I don't care if my aura has; I swear I won't!" Aamira said.

"BUT HOW CAN YOU PREVENT IT? WE CHANGE A LITTLE WITH EVERY PERSON WE MEET. IN ANCIENT TIMES, AURA READERS WERE ISOLATED FROM EVERYONE ELSE TO PREVENT THEIR AURA FROM CHANGING." Registeel said. "AND IF SOMETHING HAPPENED TO QUILL WHO YOU SO OBVIOUSLY LOVE AS A BROTHER, WOULDN'T YOU LOOK FOR REVENGE?"

Aamira couldn't think of what to say. Sure she would, probably, but wouldn't anyone regardless of what their aura was like? "I guess I'll just have to do my best to make the right decisions, even if I don't always know what they are. There are so many people in this world who suffer. Raichu for instance whose only two thirds of a living being. I want to help people like that as much as possible. That's all I really want."

"THAT'S HONESTLY ALL YOU REALLY WANT? I FIND THAT HARD TO BELIEVE."

"That's what I want the most… I think…" Aamira said.

They all had a lot to think about as they made their way back to Tempestas. Raichu was waiting there for them.

"So you really did it." He said. "Good. There will be no war against Chalybs. But are you the chosen one, Riolu?"

Aamira pulled the Icy-Gem out of her collection bag. "See for yourself." It remained as dim as ever.

"I see." Raichu said. "Well then, while I'm grateful to you for bringing the lightning back, you can't have it."

"You're not grateful…" Aamira said.

Raichu looked over at Noctowl but he obviously didn't really care. "What I say goes. I said you could only take it if you were the chosen one."

Aamira handed Quill the Icy-Gem and turned back to Raichu. "Do you know what we've been through! We had to fight a Registeel to get through there! He thought I was evil! But you don't even care, do you! Why I'm even wasting my time yelling at you is a mystery! Why's the Icy-Gem so important anyway? It's of no use to you!"

"Uhm, Aamira…?" Quill said.

"What!" Aamira replied a bit louder than she had intended. She turned to Quill and was stunned by the sight. The Icy-Gem was glowing in his hands.

"Well, isn't this a strange and unpredicted turn of events?" Noctowl said. "I must go on more investigations."

"He's not the chosen one." Raichu said. "The Spark-Gem didn't glow when he held it."

"But it glowed when Aamira held it." Noctowl said. "You remember the legend. Not the chosen one, but the chosen siblings."

"How? Those two, siblings?"

"Well, Aamira was technically adopted…" Noctowl said. "But they still see themselves as siblings."

"Again, how many legends are we in?" Quill asked.

Noctowl smiled. "Who knows? Unfortunately, no one knows the full story. It only speaks of a brother and sister who work together to awaken the legendary pokemon. There was more to it, but no one remembers what it was. It was never written down and there's a chance that much of it has been changed, so the story stopped being told altogether. But it has to do with the legend I mentioned earlier. The legend involving the three pokemon of being. It was said that one of the siblings would be two thirds of a living being. It's you, Aamira, because you lost your memory."

"Am I really two thirds of a living being?" Aamira asked.

"Yes." Noctowl said. "Will, emotion, and memory, the three things that create being, all interlock with one another. Because you lost your memory, you emotions and will were both manipulated based on the first people you met. The first person you met was Quill. Because of that the two of you became like brother and sister, which made you both perfect for the legend. Until now I had no idea."

"So we're apart of this legend and no one even knows the whole story?" Quill asked.

"Fine then…" Raichu said. "You can have the Icy-Gem on one condition. The legendary pokemon must be woken up in a certain order. Since you woke up Zapdos, you must now wake up Raikou. If you can do that, you can have the Icy-Gem."

"Okay, so where's Raikou's treasure?" Quill asked.

"Figure it out." Raichu said. "Because up until now, no one else has been able to. But it's late. We'll allow you to stay at our Inn for the night, but you must get going by tomorrow."

"Fair enough." Noctowl said. "You two wouldn't mind if I stuck around to help out, would you?"

"No! Not at all!" Quill said. "That would be awesome!"

The three of them followed Raichu to the Inn. Noctowl and Quill walked in and Aamira was about to follow, but Raichu called her.

"Aamira, just one thing." Raichu said. "A few electric types can communicate using electricity. I don't know if anyone else heard what you said, but I did. On the top of that mountain you said you wanted to help people like me."

"Yea? And do you really care?"

"Are you mocking me? Never mind." Raichu looked at her for a second. "I suppose if I still had any emotion I would want your help, but I don't."

"Well, do you think you would be grateful if I did help you?" Aamira asked. "How do you expect to stop me?"

Raichu shrugged. "Do as you will, I don't care. But if you do, even though I don't really feel thankful… Thanks anyway." Raichu turned to leave and Aamira watched him go.

Aamira thought for a minute. Raichu had chosen to thank her. 'It was his conscience.' Aamira smirked. 'His conscience told him to thank me. I guess that means his emotions aren't entirely gone after all, which means there might really be a way to reverse it…'

Aamira turned and followed Quill and Noctowl into the Inn. They had waited for her and undoubtedly heard everything Raichu had said. No doubt they had figured it out too.


	10. Chapter 10 The Will of Lightning

It was the same dream as always. There was fire everywhere and Aamira was running for her life. When she stopped she found her friend who she still couldn't see. It was a human apparently, but he was only silhouetted against the fire and still impossible to see.

"I finally found you!" Aamira shouted to him. "I've been looking everywhere!"

"Stay away from me!" He shouted and stepped back.

"What's going on?" Aamira asked.

"Like you don't know! He's dead because of you! How could you do this! I thought you were my friend!"

Aamira shook her head and backed away. "No… No! I didn't do this!" Aamira turned and ran, blinded by tears. 'It's just a dream.' She thought to herself. It must be. She was getting used to it by now. It was always this same nightmare.

Aamira tripped somewhere in the woods beyond that city she had just run from. She looked around. She could still hear the fire in the distance.

"I could help you…" A voice said. It didn't even seem like a voice; it was almost like she just knew what the words were and that someone was saying them, but she couldn't hear or even think of the words. It was the strangest thing Aamira had ever heard.

"No! Just leave me alone! I know it was you who did this!"

"It wasn't. Don't you remember? You did this. You started the fire and he got trapped in the flames because you told him he'd be safe…" The unhearable voice said again.

"No! It's not true! It can't be!" Aamira looked up at the one who was talking. She couldn't really make out who or what it was.

"I can help you. Just make the pact and I can help you." It held a hand out to her. Aamira slapped it away, stood up quickly, and ran for it.

Aamira sat up in bed panting and shaking worse than ever. It took her a minute to realize where she was. She was still in the Inn they had arrived at last night, she was still in a world inhabited only by pokemon, she was still with her friend Quill and Noctowl, and no one was dead.

Aamira rubbed her head. "It's just a dream… It's just a dream…"

"Are you alright?" Noctowl asked.

Aamira thought she should have remembered this. Noctowl didn't seem to need to sleep. "Yea, I'm fine. Just a little shaken…"

"And why would that be? Have you told Quill about these nightmares?"

Aamira couldn't remember if she had told Quill. She was sure she must have mentioned the nightmare to him, but she wasn't sure if she had actually told him the exact details. "I've been shaken up ever since I found out about Dark Readers. If you know so much, could you tell me something about them?"

"I remember hearing about it once." Noctowl said. "A Dark Reader always starts out as an Aura Reader. There are only two ways for an Aura Reader to become a Dark Reader. Unfortunately I can't remember what those are. It's not like me to forget something like this…"

"It's okay…" Aamira said. "It would help if someone knew though… At least then I wouldn't have to worry like this…"

"Our decisions make us what we are." Noctowl said. "No one's born good or evil. Dark Reader or not, it doesn't matter. You are who you chose to be."

"Yea…" Aamira couldn't help but think of Mismagius. She had been an ancestor of hers and she had ended up turning evil. But it wasn't like Aamira could control who she was related to.

Quill yawned and got up. "Hey, what's going on?"

"I'm surprised Aamira's moaning didn't wake you up." Noctowl said. "She was having another nightmare."

"I should've guessed. I was having a nightmare too. That's the first time I've had one in a while. They used to be about becoming an Investigator and someone coming and telling me I needed to finish school so they took all my stuff and I went back to school and found out I forgot to do a book sized essay."

Aamira grinned and started laughing. "Wow, you're pretty different then how you were back then. I never would have guessed!"

Quill blushed. "Eh, you really think so? I-I don't know. I don't think I'm that different…"

Aamira's smile faded. "Come on, then. What was this dream about? You seem pretty shaken up though you're obviously trying to hide it."

"That's the scary part. I remember it being horrible, but I can't remember a thing about it." He said. "Well now I know how you felt after losing your memory. This is so frustrating."

"We have to concentrate on something other than dreams right now in case you forgot." Noctowl said. "We still have to find Raikou's treasure."

"Maybe something in Suicune's memory could tell Aamira where Raikou might be." Quill suggested.

"Maybe." Aamira thought, trying to remember what she had heard in Suicune's jumbled up memory. "Suicune was alone aside from his brothers Raikou and Entei… I remember him thinking something about his brothers running by him."

"Makes sense…" Noctowl said. "Divum is on top of a mountain, as is Tempestas. Ignis is made from a chain of volcanic islands. All three of them must live in a mountain under the main city."

"Which means Raikou might be right under our feet." Quill said.

"It's not like we could just start digging around everywhere though." Aamira said. "So where should we look?"

"Hey, you remember when our team first started? In the entrance exam you used your ability to find something hidden underground. You knew how far away and how deep down it was and everything!" Quill said.

Aamira didn't really want to say anything, but she did anyway. "We finally know why I haven't been able to use my abilities. But if I'm just the dark version of an Aura Reader, shouldn't it still be possible?"

"It got easier when I joined you." Noctowl said. "Remember? You seemed to have no problem yesterday. Maybe Dark Readers are able to use their abilities easier when an Aura Reader's around."

"When… an Aura Reader…" Aamira finally understood something. "Mismagius was using me! That's why she kept me around before! It makes perfect sense now! So I probably did help her get to Desolo after all, besides just letting her hide in my shadow when we headed there!"

"Calm down!" Quill said. "So Mismagius used you. That was in the past. It's over now. We need to focus on this!"

"I… don't know what's wrong with me." Aamira said. "It's like every bad memory as far back as I can remember has been haunting me lately… I don't get it…"

"Maybe Quill and I should take it from here." Noctowl said. "You look like you can use a break."

Aamira sighed. "You think so?"

"Wow, no argument?" Quill asked. "You really are upset, aren't you?"

"It happens sometimes." Noctowl said. "Sometimes there are things that Aura Readers just need to ponder alone for a while before they find the answer. You stay here and we'll look for Raikou."

Aamira sighed. "Alright, I guess…"

Noctowl left the room, but Quill waited for a minute. "Are you sure it's okay?"

"It's fine! It's for the best!" Aamira smiled. "Now get going already!"

Quill smiled nervously and followed Noctowl.

'Something is different.' Aamira thought. 'Since when can people tell if they're acting strangely? And this sense I'm getting… It's like I knew I had to stay here, even if I don't want to. I'd much rather look for Raikou. But it's like something useable is telling me to stay here. And for once I'm actually listening. Why though?' Aamira got up and decided to walk off the feeling. She was stopped outside the door by an all too familiar voice.

"And where do you think you're going?" It was Raichu, of course.

"I'm not a prisoner or something, am I?" Aamira was only being half sarcastic. Nothing would surprise her at this point.

"Your team left a while ago. Why are you leaving so late?" He asked without turning to her.

"I'm not going." Aamira said. "I need some time to think, that's all."

"Think? What good will that do?"

"It's complicated…" This was going to become Aamira's favorite phrase at this rate.

"Well then, at least make yourself useful." Raichu threw a blue bag at Aamira that was filled with letters and packages. "Deliver these and don't come back until you're done."

"Whatever you say." Aamira said, again half sarcastically. Going on a messenger job in another country was different, but at least it gave Aamira something to do. Luckily Tempestas only had one major city so it wasn't too hard to find her way around. On the other hand, it was a huge country for being built on top of a mountain!

"You will attack now." The mysterious pokemon said to Honchkrow. Honchkrow still didn't know what it was.

"But… Master! They're in Tempestas! The lightning country! I'm not good in—"

"Quiet, Honchkrow!" it said. "You know we don't like you when you talk so much. We gave you the power. You have nothing to worry about. And what more do you want of us?"

"I-if you could just tell me who you are!" Honchkrow said.

"No! Our identity remains a secret to all but our self! Do we make our self clear?"

"Y-yes!" Honchkrow stammered. "And I promise, master, I won't fail you this time!"

"You had better not. We will not be as forgiving a second time…"

Honchkrow flew off. 'I only caught one glimpse of him before… It was that flash days ago. I saw its silhouette but the light was so bright I couldn't even really see that much of it. But how could it be so powerful? This power… I never knew it existed. In all these years I've never been this curious.'

"Back already?" Raichu asked when Aamira showed up again around noon.

"Well it's not like acting as a messenger is very difficult." Aamira threw the messenger bag back to Raichu.

"Fine then. Do whatever you want for the rest of the day." Raichu turned and started walking away.

"I know you've still got emotions!" Aamira called after him.

Raichu stopped, but he didn't turn around. "I'm afraid that you're—"

There was an explosion from somewhere that caused the mountain to shake. Aamira sensed a familiar aura and looked up into the sky.

"So we meet again, my species challenged friend!" Honchkrow yelled down at her. "I'm sorry I couldn't stick around last time, but I was in a bit of a hurry. Could you ever forgive me?"

"What do you want, Honchkrow!" Aamira shouted back up at him.

"Not very intelligent, are we? You actually think I'd tell you. I'm not as lame brained as some other villains you know. But I suppose I could have a little fun with you before moving on to my real objective." Honchkrow swooped down and used Brave Bird. Aamira tried to dodge but was too slow.

She was worried about this immediately. Aamira didn't even know Honchkrow could learn brave bird. And how strong had he gotten since they last really battled? He hadn't summoned any Murkrow yet, proving how confident he was that he would win.

Honchkrow used Twister and blew Aamira back into a building.

Honchkrow landed on the ground in front of Aamira. "Honestly, how do you expect to win that way?"

Aamira used Quick Attack and hit Honchkrow, but it hardly seemed to do anything. She used Aura Sphere and got the same results. Honchkrow didn't even make an attempt to dodge. Honchkrow flew into the air and used Drill Peck. Aamira was just barely able to dodge by diving to the side.

"You can't run forever!" Honchkrow yelled down at Aamira.

"I've seen enough." Raichu stepped in front of Aamira. "Obviously you're a far more powerful pokemon than this pathetic Riolu. So I will fight you."

"You think you can win?" Honchkrow said. "I don't believe you can. Nevertheless, I'll take your challenge to kill some time."

Raichu used Thunder, but his attack missed. He followed up with Hyper Beam. The attack hit and seemed to do a little bit of damage at least, but after using Hyper Bream, Raichu was frozen for a while. Honchkrow used Drill Peck and Brave Bird before he was able to attack again.

Aamira used Aura Sphere, but Honchkrow easily dodged it.

"Stay out of this!" Raichu yelled at her. "This is my fight!"

While he was distracted, Honchkrow used Twister and caught Raichu by surprise.

"You can't take him alone! I don't know why but he's a lot stronger than before!" Aamira said.

"Whatever, just stay out of my way!"

Honchkrow used drill peck, and somehow Raichu caught Honchkrow using his tail. Raichu's static ability paralyzed Honchkrow. Raichu started storing power in his hand and used Focus Punch on Honchkrow before the paralysis wore off. Honchkrow flew off the first chance he got, but Aamira grabbed onto one of his legs and used Force Palm to force Honchkrow to the ground. Raichu used Thunder and shocked both Aamira and Honchkrow.

Aamira couldn't believe what Raichu had just done. His attack had not only been the most powerful electric type attack, but one of the strongest attacks that Aamira had ever felt in general. She struggled to get away before Raichu attacked again.

Honchkrow laughed as he stood up again. "I had no idea… Aamira of the famous Team Sleuth scares so easily? Don't tell me that little bit of static actually hurt."

"This is impossible…" Raichu said as Honchkrow got to his feet virtually unharmed, paying no attentiong to Aamira who was struggling just to stay standing. "I've never met a pokemon this powerful before."

Honchkrow looked over at Raichu for a second before turning back to Aamira. "What? No smug comment? Stick to the script. This is where you say, 'Is that all you care about! Power! There are far more important things than that!'" Aamira didn't reply. "No?" Honchkrow laughed. "I'm beginning to like you, Raichu. You have no idea how long I've been trying to get Aamira like this."

"Like I care…" Raichu said. "Now tell me; how did you get this power?"

"I can show you if you'd like." Honchkrow said. "What of you, Aamira? Will you come with us too?"

Aamira wouldn't go with them. She didn't have the heart to fight anymore, but she wouldn't join them.

"If that's how you feel we have no use for you at the time being. Why not demonstrate some of your power, my new friend?"

"On this weakling? What's the point?" Raichu asked.

He had to be acting! He just had to be! Why would anyone join Honchkrow?

"Do it for the ultimate power." Honchkrow said. "My master will be more than willing to give it to you."

"Fine then." Raichu used Thunder. Aamira realized too late that this wasn't an act. A bolt of lightning came towards her from the clouds. Right when it was about to hit, another bolt of lightning came from somewhere else and stopped the first one. Where the two lightning bolts had connected, a pokemon appeared. It looked like a saber toothed tiger with a cloud on its back. It was Raikou.

"Are you alright?" Raikou stood with one paw in front of Aamira, as if trying to shield her from any sneak attacks. Aamira didn't know how to respond. "You don't have to worry now. I'll take care of these two."

"How nice to finally meet you, Raikou." Honchkrow smirked. "I came a long way here just to meet you."

"So that's why." Raichu said. "You're truly powerful, but do you think you can defeat the legendary Raikou?"

"Positive…" Honchkrow smirked and started singing a low tune. It sounded differently than the call he used to summon Murkrow. Nothing seemed to happen though. Raikou didn't seem to know what had happened either.

Raikou attacked with Thunder. Raichu stuck his tail in the ground and the lightning passed harmlessly through him. Raikou ran towards Honchkrow to use Thunder fang. Honchkrow dodged with unbelievable speed. Honchkrow used Twister, but Raikou dodged. Then something strange happened. It seemed as if some invisible spear was thrown right through Aamira and Raikou. Both of them collapsed.

"So, how do you like my newest attack? Perish Song. Raikou, surely you remember Perish Song?" Honchkrow said.

"Don't test me, bird…" Raikou said, though he was obviously in no position to make threats.

"I've got what I came for. Unfortunately, you can't come with us just yet, Aamira. I'm sorry you'd have to be left out of this." Honchkrow walked towards Raikou, who seemed incapable of any movement at all, and put a pendant around its neck with a white stone on it. Aamira recognized it as being the same type of stone that was used to control a Steelix a while back.

"Wait…" Aamira said. "Raichu, you really want to join them? I know you still have emotions! You might not even know it yourself, but I know you do! Yesterday you thanked me for bringing back the lightning."

"So that's what this is about." Raichu said. "I suppose anyone would find this a bit amusing? I don't remember in the slightest ever having emotions. Maybe that's just what happens after having a run in with Mesprit. I was simply acting out of valor yesterday to prove I was the better pokemon. I've read in books and seen in real life what other pokemon say and do. I thought you might be a good ally, but apparently I was mistaken."

Aamira stared up at him, unable to say or do anything. It was true then? All he cared about was power?

"Your naïve friend, Noctowl, was foolish to trust me for all of these years. Just as you were for less than a full day."

Aamira was shaking and she hadn't even noticed until then. So that was it? Honchkrow would actually win?

"We don't want to be late." Honchkrow threw another pendant with a white stone on it to Raichu. "Master! We're ready!"

Raichu, Honchkrow, and Raikou all started to glow brightly and disappeared. Aamira was left alone in the mud and rain, unable to move or do anything else. After a while, she lost consciousness.

"I think she's waking up." Aamira opened her eyes and Quill started to come into view. "Aamira! Are you alright?"

She had woken up in a hospital room. She was surrounded by pokemon, who she didn't really pay any attention to.

"Quill…" She said. "I was completely useless… I couldn't do anything…"

"Don't worry about that!" Quill said. "You're hurt!"

"I couldn't do anything…" Aamira repeated.

"I never imagined…" Noctowl said. "Raichu actually attacked you for the chance of defeating Honchkrow. And then he turned on you?"

"He joined them. Then they caught Raikou… Raikou saved me but he was captured. It was because of me…"

"Don't think that!" It was Pikachu, Raichu's son. "I was the one who found you. I was coming to visit and… I saw everything. I hate to admit it, but I was too terrified to move. I can't believe that actually happened… It wasn't because of you. Even with emotions Raichu's always been like that."

Aamira didn't think Pikachu would ever be a pokemon who would come to her rescue. She didn't care though. The thought of when Raichu had attacked her and Honchkrow at the same time was too horrible. It was as if everything was pointless. Aamira turned over so she wouldn't have to face them.

"Aamira, what's wrong with you…?" Quill asked sadly.

Aamira's eye filled with tears and there was no way she could face any of them again. It was only a while ago when they had first arrived in Tempestas. Right away she was challenged by a Ludicolo to show off some of her strength. But what strength did she have if she couldn't even defeat Honchkrow? And she remembered how Quill used to look up at her because of how strong and brave she was. Now he was worrying about her and didn't even realize this was just causing her more pain.

Noctowl sighed. "So it's started…" 'I was worried something like this would happen the second these two came to Tempestas. Now it seems like the future will be inevitable.'

"Noctowl, what's wrong with Aamira?" Quill asked. He sounded so sad, but Aamira still couldn't turn to face him.

"Something horrible, I'm afraid. She's lost the will to go on."

"Ehee! Very well! Very, very well!" The mysterious pokemon said to Honchkrow. "You've accomplished more than you're aware of, our fine feathered friend." It had been watching Aamira and her friends through a crystal ball ever since Honchkrow had returned with Raikou and Raichu.

"S-so, you're pleased?" Honchkrow asked.

"We are very pleased!" the pokemon said. "You've not only captured Raikou the Lightning, but brought me a piece of the puzzle and furthered the prophecy. We doubt Aamira can be considered more that a waste of space at this point. But this is still only the beginning… Now for your reward."

"Reward?" Honchkrow said.

"Of course. You have served us well. So whatever you want, we shall give you."

"Whatever I want?" Honchkrow knew he would be pushing it if he asked, but… "I want to know… What are you?"

"Is that all? Fine. We will show you." The pokemon came out of the shadows.

Honchkrow's beak dropped as he stared at the pokemon. His wings fell uselessly to his sides. "It's… It's not possible! I heard that you were…"

"You've heard right. However, some of the details of what happened to us have been somewhat… exaggerated."

"Y-You're truly a most powerful pokemon!" Honchkrow said. "I will not let you down!"

The pokemon smirked. "Very well indeed…"


	11. Chapter 11 Sunshine

Back at the newly named Investigators Brigade headquarters, tons of Investigation Teams were getting back from their missions. Among them was Team Sandstone, completely oblivious of anything that recently happened to their friends in Team Sleuth. They were just about to head down to dinner, same as usual.

"Wait." Sandshrew said. "I hear Quill's voice."

"Are you sure?" Roy asked.

"Yes! Yes, I'm sure! Team Sleuth's back!" Sandshrew ran out the door to wait for them and Roy followed after, still unable to believe after all these years how good Sandshrew's hearing was.

Roy could see them now. They were walking towards them, slower than usual it seemed. "They seem a bit early, don't they? They did say they were heading to Glacies after they went to Tempestas."

"Who knows?" Sandshrew asked. "Hey, Quill! Aamira!" Sandshrew waved to them.

Quill ran towards them and Aamira followed, though she seemed a bit reluctant.

"So what happened?" Roy asked when he saw Aamira. She definitely seemed a little different.

"What's going on?" Sandshrew asked. "You know I can't see them."

"Umm…" Quill looked over at Aamira. "Well…"

"Tell them whatever you want." Aamira walked towards the HQ building.

"She sounded sort of down…" Sandshrew said. "So what did happen?"

Quill sighed. "What didn't? Apparently her aura turned dark, and Honchkrow showed up. Honchkrow convinced Tempestas's elder Raichu to join him and both of them attacked Aamira and kidnapped Raikou, one of the legendary pokemon. But the thing is, when Honchkrow attacked, Raichu actually came to help Aamira. But he only really wanted to prove how strong he was. He attacked Aamira when she got in the way…"

"What? Are you serious?" Roy asked. "But… But Aamira's never been like this. Even in Divum when she thought she would somehow destroy the world just by existing… She was at least more hopeful back then."

"I think I know what it is." Sandshrew said. "Didn't Suicune tell Aamira she had to disappear? Back then at least there was something she could do. But if Raichu really did have to come to her rescue, then attacked her without really caring about what happened to her… You know, I bet Aamira feels sort of useless."

"But she's not!" Quill said.

"That doesn't mean she can't feel that way." Roy said. "Maybe we should try to do something."

"Is that a good idea?" Sandshrew asked. "You know how she gets with that temper…"

"I… I don't think she has a temper anymore…" Quill said. "She didn't want to fight at all when we were in any dungeons. She mostly just let me lead and take care of any enemies."

"So how would we even get through to her?" Roy asked.

"Maybe she'll be okay by tomorrow." Sandshrew suggested, though he sounded somewhat skeptical.

Of course she wouldn't be, but none of them could think of anything to do. At dinner the rest of Team Sleuth and Team Sandstone were waiting. They had seen Aamira walk into their room and she hadn't even looked at them as they passed. They couldn't believe it when Quill told them what happened.

"Aamira, lose her will?" Glameow said skeptically. The two of them had been rivals since they met.

"But you saw her." Nuzleaf said. "She doesn't care anymore. You can see that spark in her eyes is gone."

"Yea, yea… I remember when she tried telling which of us was the thief…" Either Jake or Rolland said. (Sandshrew was still the only one that could tell them apart.)

"She was pretty determined…" The other one said. "It's sort of hard to see her like this…"

"Okay, listen up!" Quill said. "We'll need the help of everyone to try to find a way to get Aamira's will back!"

So all the members in the two teams split up to find every team around the Investigators Brigade who had ever met Team Sleuth. After they had done this, quite a large crowd had gathered. They all listened with a mixture of fear, anticipation, and worry as Quill described what happened in Tempestas.

"I'm having a hard time believing this." Sceptile said. "How could Aamira ever lose her will? Of all pokemon?"

"It's true…" Quill said.

"Face is Sceptile." Venusaur said. "We know Raichu. He's definitely the type of person who would so something like that. He's pretty strong too…"

"I hate that guy!" Charmeleon said. "The only thing I'm having a hard time believing is that his son was actually the one who found Aamira! How's that for irony?"

Typhlosion nodded in agreement.

"I'm willing to bet Honchkrow's off somewhere laughing his head off!" Ambipom said. "This is all because of him! If only we could find out where he's hiding…"

"This is more serious than any of you realize." Weavile had stayed in the background the whole time leaning against the doorway while listening to everyone else. "Ever since Aamira's shown up, pokemon have started to change. My team used to think all Investigation Teams were scum, Charmeleon and Glameow used to be bounty hunters, Quill and Roy were cowards, Crawdaunt and Croconaw were nothing more than bullies, Ambipom and Primeape used too be over confident, though I still think my team was responsible for changing that, and let's not forget because of her the world was saved from destruction. So what will happen now? She used to give pokemon hope, but now that her own hope is gone, what will happen to the pokemon she meets?"

"So does anyone have any ideas?" Roy asked.

No one answered.

"I know how to fix the part about other pokemon picking up my hopelessness." Aamira had appeared in the doorway without even Weavile noticing. Aamira took her Aura Glass out of her Collection Bag and placed it on the ground. "Starting now, I'm quitting Team Sleuth."

"WHAT!" They all shouted at the same time.

Quill ran towards her and picked up her Aura Glass. "Aamira, this is crazy! Why are you acting this way? No one can win every time. So what if you lost to Honchkrow and Raichu? You didn't give up this easily when we lost to Team Night!"

"That over confidence was actually a bit irritating at first…" Weavile admitted. "But there was something admirable in it. The thought that goodness can always conquer evil… I think that's what really made you who you were, and who you are."

"Not really." Aamira said. "I finally get it. I was right before. No one can really understand me, and seeing all of you here just proves it. Think of me however you want, I don't care. I quit." Aamira walked out before any of them could say anything.

"It's worse than we thought…" Charmeleon said.

"I can never understand it…" Quill said. "Even when I could feel her emotions I didn't understand it. She's always saying that no one understands her, but she never explains why."

"Hey, it's sort of like us isn't it?" Either Jake or Rolland said. "We just wanted people to be able to tell us apart, but we wanted them to figure it out."

"Yea, it was pretty frustrating…" The other one said. "I bet it's something like that. Because the only person who could understand her would be able to tell what's wrong."

"What kind of younger brother am I…?" Quill asked.

"Well there must be someone." Ambipom said. "We can't give up that easily!"

"I think there was…" Quill said. "I don't think I ever told anyone this, but when Aamira and I were trapped in Atra and staying at the hideout, Aamira ran off because she thought she would end up leading Mismagius there. Lucario ran after her. I don't know exactly what happened, but she seemed a bit different after they came back. But Lucario told me this; 'Just because you can feel her emotions doesn't mean you can understand them'."

"So what did he mean by that?" Weavile asked.

"Well, apparently Aamira's always sort of felt cut off from everyone else. Before people stared at her because she was a human, and now because she's a pokemon. Imagine how that must feel. After that Lucario made a promise that just couldn't be kept. He promised that he would never leave Aamira. I think he knew all along that he was going to seal himself inside the Aura Scepter. I noticed a strange tone in his voice, and I think that might be why… That's why he told me to be there for her no matter what…"

"Well then we'll all be there for her!" Primeape said. Everyone shouted in agreement.

"What else did Lucario say about her?" Charmeleon asked Quill.

Quill thought for a moment trying to remember everything Lucario had said. "Well… she didn't want to tell Lucario her real name for one reason or another so now no one knows what her real name was. I think she knew that she would have to disappear eventually and she wanted to sever all ties to her past. Other than that, come to think of it, I really don't know that much about her."

"She's a bit mysterious…" Typhlosion said. "Either way, it seems that Lucario still understood her more than anyone else."

"I'm sure I could think of something from before." Weavile said. "Well… I never really trusted her back then because she was always sneaking around. She seemed to be hiding something but she never would tell anyone anything. She was a bit bossy even though she couldn't do much as a human and a lot of pokemon were afraid of her for unknown reasons."

"Including us." Houndoom pointed out.

"Come to think of it…" Gliscor said. "I don't think we ever really took the time to get to know her before."

"So… that's it…" Quill said. Everyone turned to him, though he wouldn't explain. "I think I understand now. I'm going to find Aamira."

Quill ran out of the building, but stopped and turned around when he noticed that Aamira was standing right by the door.

"You're still here?" Quill said. "I thought you ran off…"

"Do you think I'm a coward or something?" Aamira asked. "I'm not running from anything."

"I didn't say you were…" Quill said. "Listen, we're not exactly sure why you're so upset, but we're all really worried about you. I think when you were a human you must have felt pretty useless around a bunch of stronger pokemon. When you turned into a Riolu, you felt better about that. You felt strong enough to be able to do anything. But when you couldn't take Honchkrow on your own, it made you feel weak again. And you felt like you were just getting in the way when Raichu hit you with Thunder. But you're not weak and we all know that! You're only as weak as you think you are!"

"So that's what you think?" Aamira asked desperately. "Could it be that maybe I was wrong about you all this time? I thought of you as a brother! But now it seems that you only really cared about me because I was so strong!"

"No! How could you think that!" Quill said. "I never cared about you just because you were strong! You just seemed pretty focused on power."

"HONCHKROW is focused on power! RAICHU is focused on power! How could you ever compare me to them!" Aamira used Aura Sphere on Quill and knocked him back into the wall. "I might not be as strong as them, but I'm obviously more powerful than you could ever be! So if I'm so focused on power, why don't you just jump off a cliff, you wimp!"

Quill stared up at her in shock. It felt as if everything he knew just came tumbling down around him. He watched as Aamira climbed up into a nearby tree. Unknowing what to do, Quill burst into tears and ran back inside.

"What happened!" Ambipom asked when Quill ran back in crying.

"Aamira… Aamira attacked me…" he said.

Everyone shouted in unbelief.

"She called me a wimp…" he continued. "I think I might have gotten the reason right, but I made her think that I thought she was obsessed with power or something… It's not what I meant…"

"Of course not." Weavile said. "Maybe it is something to do with it, but Aamira's not so self centered as that…"

"What happened after she attacked you?" Primeape asked.

"She climbed up into a tree…" Quill said through his crying. "I doubt she's going to come down for a while… She's right! She was right and I'm just now realizing it! I did depend on her too much! I am just a wimp!"

"Don't say that!" Ambipom shouted at Quill. "You're not a wimp and Aamira's not power hungry!

"It's spreading…" Sceptile said. "It seems that anyone that talks to Aamira will become what they were before they met her."

"Considering most of the people here were thieves and other manners of outlaws, I don't think we should risk having anyone else talk to her right now…" Ambipom said.

"You're all going about this all wrong!" Glameow said. "She hated being the only girl member on the team. She told me herself. And she also said that she hated how everyone always felt that they needed to protect her. So I'll go out and talk to her to prove how stupid you're all acting."

"I ORDER YOU TO UNTIE ME!" Glameow shouted ten minutes later, struggling against a rope binding her legs together.

"How did this happen?" Quill asked Weavile who had dragged Glameow back in.

"Well I didn't catch all of it…" Weavile said. "Apparently when Glameow said that we had no right trying to 'protect' her, Aamira retorted by saying that it didn't give her the right either and that Glameow was no different than 'any of the other slobs'. Then Glameow said that she was being stupid and stubborn and that the team would fall apart without her leading them, then Aamira said that Glameow was no different from Quill and that she only wanted Aamira to rejoin because of how powerful she is and if Glameow thought that she should become the new leader. Then she called Glameow an arrogant bird's pampered lap pet and Glameow lost it and I dragged her back here and tied her up before she could kill anyone or just seriously maim them."

"I thought you said you didn't catch all of it!" Quill said.

"I didn't." Weavile shivered. "I'd hate to think what they were arguing about before I got out there…"

"There's no way they were arguing that whole time." Quill said. "I guess we shouldn't have sent a feline to calm down a canine…"

Glameow glared at him.

Quill and Weavile glanced at each other for a second.

"How about we pretend not to care?" Charmeleon asked. "Surely that would work."

"But wouldn't that create an unfixable void between Aamira and all of her friends and cause her to go into a spiraling depression and everlasting rage?" Sandshrew asked, which was followed by a few stares that he couldn't have noticed.

"…Yea you're right." Charmeleon eventually said.

"Maybe I'll just wing it?" Sandshrew walked out nervously.

"Oh, my poor little brother…" Roy said nervously. "No what am I thinking? Aamira's too good of a person to attack someone like Sandshrew."

Sandshrew came back in, dripping with water.

"What did she do?" Roy asked.

"Nothing…" Sandshrew asked. "I was so busy thinking about what to say that I didn't hear or smell the rain… I never talked to Aamira…"

"Oh, right." Charmeleon said. "Sandshrew don't like water, do they? I know how you feel…"

Quill sighed. "Alright everyone, knowing Aamira she'll be too stubborn to leave that tree." Everyone nodded and murmured in agreement. "So for now we'll get some rest and try to think of a better plan tomorrow."

Everyone got up earlier than usual that next morning. Electivire couldn't help notice how tense everyone was.

"Is something going on that I should know about?" He asked. No one answered. Apparently he hadn't even noticed that Aamira wasn't there. "Anyway, I'd like to introduce you all to someone."

An older pokemon stepped forward. Quill did a double take when he saw the pokemon. At first he had thought it was Lucario, but this Lucario was definitely a lot older. His fur had turned a duller color, he wore glasses, and he had to walk with a cane that looked like a twisted tree root.

"This is Ruko. He's a sage from far away. He asked to come here to observe how an Investigation Team works, so he'll be staying here for a few days. He also asked me to mention that he will answer any questions you have for him as long as you answer his questions about Investigation Teams."

The old Lucario bowed to them. It didn't seem that he could ever stop smiling. A joyous aura radiated from him making them all feel a lot happier than before. "The pleasure is all mine, my new friends.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's all get to work as usual!" Electivire walked off somewhere.

"So you're a sage?" Quill asked.

"That I am." Ruko said. "Something is troubling you, it seems. Were you wondering if I could possibly help?"

"Yes, actually! You couldn't have gotten here at a better time!" Quill said. "When you came here did you happen to see a Riolu in a tree outside?"

"I might have." He said. "Injured left arm, metal collar, moody… smells like wet fur, and looks as if she hadn't slept in a week?"

"Umm… Y-yea…" Quill said. "Could you at least convince her to get out of the tree to talk to us? She quit Team Sleuth yesterday because she lost her will. She insults or attacks everyone who tries to talk to her."

"I'll see what I can do." Ruko walked out of the building and everyone stood in the doorway watching expectantly. Ruko walked up to the tree Aamira was in. Aamira was ignoring him by pretending to be asleep. It looked like he was about to say something really profound when he raised his cane. Instead he hit the tree and made Aamira fall out.

Aamira yelped in surprise and stood up quickly to face the laughing Lucario. "I don't see what's so funny!"

Ruko continued to laugh. "Your friend asked me to get you out of the tree. So I did!"

Aamira glared at him for a second, then turned and jumped up on the roof of the building.

"Well at least she's out of the tree…" Ruko continued to laugh.

"YOU CRAZY OLD ZUBAT!" Glameow tried to attack him, but Charmeleon held her back by the tail.

Ruko stopped laughing at them long enough to get a few words out. "Learn to laugh at life! If you can do that you'll never be miserable!"

Aamira stared up at the sky, beginning to think that maybe this had gone too far. But she just couldn't bring herself to come down and face everyone after all of this. She stared unblinkingly up at the clouds, though it rained the whole day. It was nighttime before Ruko reappeared

"That stubbornness! That tenaciousness!" He said happily.

'Not this guy again…' Aamira thought. "What do you want?"

"You're causing a lot of misery, I hope you know that." he sounded a lot more serious. "Maybe the real reason you were knocked out of that tree was because you were out of balance." All seriousness gone, he started laughing again.

Aamira sat up, though she didn't get off the roof. There was something about that laugh… Sinister at first, but it was strangely happy. It sounded sort of like a bark only coarser. Ruko seemed not to make any attempt at all to keep his laughter at a certain volume. It was like it was as loud as it was and Ruko didn't try to restrain it at all.

Thinking about this somehow made Aamira smile. He seemed sort of like a fatherly character. Whoever he was, because she didn't hear Electivire introduce him, he seemed pretty nice.

"Such stubbornness and tenaciousness… Just what a Riolu should be like." He said. "I had a student once much like you. No respect at all, I'll tell you."

Ruko suddenly appeared on the roof next to her. Aamira stared in amazement. It didn't seem that a crippled Lucario would be able to jump up on the roof. In fact, that was the main reason Aamira got up there.

He laughed again for a second. "You think I'm weak just because of my age. But I'll tell you this cane is more useful in a fight than it is for walking. And I hope you don't think of me negatively. I'm normally very serious."

Aamira found this hard to believe.

"I had an apprentice a while back a bit like you. His nickname was Slacker. He'd fall asleep during written assignments and I don't know why I bothered to teach him half the martial arts moves I did. It often made me wonder why he begged me to teach him in the first place."

"Doesn't sound like me. I accidentally disrespected a Lucario a while back and through a strange turn of events I ended up secretly as his students and I'd sneak off at night for classes so I didn't get any sleep."

Thankfully he didn't laugh. "But there's something similar between the two of you; spirit. It was on a night like this I finally got through to him. I told him this; 'It's been raining for a long time, but hopefully the sun will shine through.' Truthfully it hadn't been raining all that long. It confused him a bit. I think it stirred something inside him though. Ever since then he started acting a lot more serious."

"So what happened?" Aamira didn't know why she was letting this Lucario get through to her like this.

"What do you think? He finished his training; there was no reason for me to stick around any longer, so I left. Just like that."

"That sounds pretty selfish."

Ruko raised his staff and pointed it in between her eyes. "I'm glad you think so. That last part of the story… I made up. It wasn't what I did; it's what you did. Don't think I haven't noticed. I realized it right away. You've been pushing them away since yesterday. You think that since you lost all will to continue as an Investigation Team Member they don't need you any longer. They do need you. Just because you're you. Not because of how strong you are or you being a Riolu or anything like that."

Aamira hit his cane away. "You tell me when they figure that out and maybe I'll be willing to listen to what they have to say."

"Don't get it, do you? They didn't think of it, because they knew it."

"What do you mean?"

"Must a Swellow ask what direction the wind blows? It comes to them so naturally." He said. "Whatever your life was like before… It must not have been a very good one. But don't you realize your friends are friends with you because of who you are and not what you are or how strong you are? It seems so obvious to them that it didn't even cross their minds that it was what was bothering you. Do you care about them just because of what they are?"

"No… There's a different story for each of them… Each of them seemed to be completely different when I first met them. Meeting all of them has been an unbelievable adventure. That adventure… because of that I couldn't care less who or what they are or what they were. But I'm different."

"How so?"

Aamira wondered if she should trust him, but he seemed like a nice pokemon at least. "Over a year ago Quill found me unconscious. When I woke up it turned out that I had somehow entirely lost my memory. The only thing I could remember was that I used to be human."

"Not too unusual." He said, surprising Aamira. "There are legends of such transformations. The one found in Divum, Tempestas, and Ignis I'm sure you're familiar with. There's another about a human that finds an injured Murkrow while walking through a forest. The human nursed it back to health, but the Murkrow hated it for saving it. So Murkrow put a curse on the human as revenge and turned it into a pokemon."

"How ironic. And some time later I'd be turned into a pokemon by a Honchkrow. But he said that he wasn't really the cause of my transformation. And the pokemon in that other legend happened to be a distant relative of mine."

"You don't even realize…"

"That you somehow changed the subject entirely?"

He laughed. "Okay, so you have realized. But you see how easy it is to get things back to the way they were? Why not just continue where you left off? I'm sure your friends won't hold this against you. But I'm still curious as to why you think you're any different." He grinned.

Aamira turned away. "That's so predictable. You're just trying to make me feel differently by using over used lines that used to work on people fifty years ago."

"Harsh. How about this? You have no reason to be afraid, because I can tell you are. You truthfully want to protect your friends but after whatever happened, you're afraid you won't be able to. So what did you do? You just gave up. Giving up is never good, but you especially can't give up when you don't even know you'll lose!"

"I'll… Protect everyone…" Aamira said. "That's why I didn't just run off after I quit… I promised I would. That's what they can't understand. They're not the one stuck in the middle of this. But I'm still the reason they're involved at all."

"So that's why you think you have to protect everyone? But from what I hear you don't like it much when they try to protect you. Is that why you do it without making it obvious? You're brave, but don't let that get the better of you. Don't be so brave that you're afraid to be a kid."

Aamira smiled. She didn't know why, but that sounded sort of… moving. "Are you maybe saying I'm too tense and need to loosen up a little?"

"No. Actually I mean you should try acting more like a kid. Have fun. Get scared. Don't be afraid of having others come to your rescue."

Aamira smiled again, and replied feeling a bit embarrassed. "If I should act more like a kid, could I call you Grandpa?"

Ruko laughed. "If that's what you think of me as! It looks like the sun has started to shine again."

Aamira had hoped that her team would be asleep so she could sneak into their room. Unfortunately they were all awake, apparently hoping she would come in.

"It's about time!" Glameow said. "So what's with you?"

"Hey, you don't need to snap at her like that." Quill said.

"Yea, Glameow, you need to lighten up a little!" Aamira jumped into her hammock.

"Why does this seem… familiar?" Nuzleaf asked.

Quill groaned and looked up at Aamira. "Don't tell me; that sage somehow became your new teacher?"

Aamira smiled and turned look out the window. "Good night, everyone."

They all looked back and fourth between each other for a second before blowing out the candles that lit the room and heading to bed.


	12. Chapter 12 Power of Darkness

"Guess what, Honchkrow. Our little friend got her will back." Honchkrow's boss said to him as he watched Aamira through the crystal ball.

"So soon?" Honchkrow asked. Now that he knew what this pokemon was, it at least relieved some of his anxiety. "But emotional wounds run deep. When either emotion, will, or memory is destroyed the other two also change. I'm sure she hasn't entirely gotten over it."

"No. No, probably not. It would be a miracle if she did. Tell you what! Let's have some fun!"

Honchkrow laughed. "Now this I'm starting to enjoy…"

"Go on, Honchkrow, and we will watch you from here!"

Honchkrow smiled evilly and flew off.

"Master." Raichu came out of the shadows. "Can't you tell me why I'm here? Honchkrow said you would give me power. So far I have just been sitting around and watching the two of you though."

"Patience our new friend. You will get power in due time. First we must find two others though. Oh, what's this?" The pokemon had spotted Ruko the sage in his crystal ball. "Now, now this wasn't something that was supposed to happen… Now we have the chance to test Honchkrow…"

"Grandpa?" Quill said. "You're actually calling Ruko grandpa?"

"And what's wrong with that?" Ruko appeared suddenly behind Quill, scaring him half to death. Aamira laughed happily. "I've had hundreds of names. And truthfully Grandpa isn't a new one."

The day was bright and sunny, the exact opposite of the previous day, which was cold and rainy. It was perfect weather for a little training. Quill was still feeling a little apprehensive about leaving Aamira with "grandpa" while he went on a mission with some of the other team members.

"It'll be fine." Ruko said. "If anything happens I'll protect Aamira." He put his hand on Aamira's head and Aamira growled at him. Ruko started laughing his usual laugh.

"I just wish we didn't have to constantly worry about being attacked." Quill said. "I say let's just get saving the world over with for a second time and hopefully get things back to normal."

"Define normal…" Aamira said.

"Good point…" Quill said. "I guess I'll see you later then…" he walked off to join the rest of the team that was going, though he still seemed a little nervous about leaving Aamira.

"He might think he's your keeper or something…" Ruko said. "But isn't that the job of the older sibling?"

"I think we might have switched personalities somehow." Aamira said. "So what now?"

"I'm going to give you a test. I know I just became your teacher, but I want to see how much you've learned already."

"A test already? Okay, I guess… You know, maybe I was wrong. Quill nearly faints whenever someone mentions a test."

Ruko tripped Aamira with his cane. "You're taking a test! Don't be so easily distracted!" All kindness seemed to disappear from his voice. "Now get up! And don't hold back just because I'm old!"

Aamira got up and attacked. Every time she tried to attack, Ruko would block her attacks with his cane. Aamira tried to trip him, but Ruko dodged and tripped Aamira. Aamira looked up at Ruko in shock. How could he move so fast? Not even a normal Lucario could move like that but he was a lot older.

Aamira got up and attacked with a punch using the bone on the back of her hand. It hit the cane, but surprisingly the cane didn't break. Aamira attacked again with a kick and somehow Ruko countered it by using his tail. Ruko tried to hit her with his cane again, but Aamira was able to block with one arm and attack with the other. Ruko jumped back, did a back flip in the air, landed behind Aamira, and hit her on the pressure point near her neck, causing Aamira to freeze up for a second.

Aamira turned and tripped Ruko and for once succeeded on landing an attack. Ruko fell and dropped his cane. Aamira thought it was a bit strange that he had actually tripped after dodging and countering all of her attacks. Aamira picked up his cane.

"That's enough…" Ruko said. "Help me up, will you?"

"So that's why you did it." Aamira said. "I already fell for that trick once. I thought I had seriously injured my other teacher once and when I went to help him up he grabbed my arm and threw me on my back."

Ruko laughed. "Looks like you have gotten through quite a bit of training." He stood up easily, but flinched and grabbed his cane before he fell again. "This arthritis… It'll be the death of me one of these days…"

"You have arthritis?"

Ruko tripped Aamira with his cane again. "Yes, but you wouldn't guess it would you? Here's one you might know; if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Since I failed to trick you the first time I tried something else." Ruko laughed and Aamira couldn't help laughing too.

"It seems that you've learned a great deal. Don't shirk of your training though; it's obvious you haven't been doing any training for a while. But there is something I think I should teach you. I doubt that your teacher could have been an Aura Reader, so you never got any proper instruction on how to use your abilities."

"You're an Aura Reader!" Aamira said. "But… I'm not…"

"I know. Only Lucario trained to see aura can tell the difference between an Aura Reader and a Dark Reader. So what's the difference? The difference is that Dark Readers have many more abilities they can use. More than just aura reading, aura seal, aura release, and aura restore."

"That's the only difference?" Aamira asked.

"Yes. But many abilities unique to Dark Readers have a horrible consequence to them. That's why darkness is thought of as evil. It's not though. Because without darkness light cannot exist. But people feared darkness because of the corruption. It's said that many thousands of years ago a group of Dark Readers became corrupted and tried to take over the world. They were stopped, obviously, but people have feared darkness ever since."

"That's the only reason?" Aamira asked. "So darkness isn't evil… And I'm not either."

"Oh honestly. Can't you at least tell if you're good or evil? It's not rocket science. Though how an Aura Reader becomes a Dark Reader is a mystery. I've done much research on the matter, and all I've found is that to become a Dark Reader, an Aura Reader has to make a pact. Though what this pact is and how it's made I don't know."

"A pact? I had a dream like that once. I was running from a fire and tripped while running in the woods. Then something appeared and said they could help me if I made a pact. But I refused and ran for it."

"Is that so? Then I wonder how. No one just suddenly becomes a Dark Reader. Only two types of people turn to darkness for help."

"What are they?"

Ruko didn't answer for a while. "I'm not telling you. Only because I don't know which of those two types you are."

He had that final tone in his voice that told Aamira she wouldn't be able to get him to tell her until he felt like it.

"You talk about something you don't understand. The Moon's Eye Pact."

Ruko and Aamira looked up in the sky. Honchkrow was circling above them like some sort of hungry scavenger.

"I didn't even sense him…" Ruko said in awe.

"It's that white stone around his neck." Aamira said. "It's masking his aura."

"Finally you start to figure things out." Honchkrow swooped down towards them. Both of them dodged out of the way and Honchkrow landed in front of them. "I have no real business here; I just thought I'd stop by to have a little fun. So just stay out of this, old man."

Honchkrow used Twister on Aamira. Aamira dodged out of the way. Then Honchkrow used Drill Peck and laughed as Aamira kept running to dodge the attack. "I knew you hadn't recovered at all from Tempestas. And here my master thought you had and that you were actually of any great significance. Maybe I should just put you out of your misery now."

Aamira was shaking and couldn't move. She glanced over at Ruko. Why was he just standing there? Honchkrow attacked with Twister again. Aamira couldn't dodge and was thrown back a few feet. Honchkrow flew over and landed next to Aamira.

"You're pathetic." He said. "I expected that you hadn't entirely regained your will, but nothing like this."

Aamira couldn't move. She just laid on her back looking up at Honchkrow and shaking madly. She couldn't even talk.

Honchkrow noticed the metal collar around her neck. "Never got it taken off, did you? It doesn't surprise me somehow. I didn't even notice before. But there's one question on my mind right now; how should I get rid of you? Crush your skull? Strangle you? Perhaps slowly and painfully…? Maybe wait until Quill gets back and get rid of him in front of you?"

Without knowing what she was doing, Aamira used Drain Punch on Honchkrow and sent him flying. He was so shocked that he couldn't even open his wings to fly. He landed on the ground with a thud and black feathers went flying everywhere. Honchkrow got back up and looked around at his black feathers all over the ground. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT…"

"Big talk…" Aamira said.

Honchkrow took a step back. There was a weird gleam in her eyes that he didn't like. He convinced himself that he had imagined it and attacked with Drill Peck. Aamira blocked with both hands and used Force Palm at close range, which obviously made him a little dizzy.

'It's not possible…' he thought when he finally regained his senses. 'I've got to get away!'

Honchkrow took flight, but he was suddenly attacked with an Aura Sphere as dark as midnight. Honchkrow fell out of the air and Aamira attacked with Drain Punch. Honchkrow attacked with twister. It hardly did anything to Aamira. Then Aamira went to punch Honchkrow and her hand started glowing with a dark aura. It was a new attack Aamira wasn't familiar with.

Honchkrow struggled to get up. He used Hyper Beam, but Aamira dodged Aamira tried to use the new attack, but it wouldn't work again. Instead she went into a frenzy of Force Palms and Aura Spheres. Honchkrow was shaking on the ground and couldn't move by the time Aamira finally let up on the attacks.

Aamira almost pitied the helpless bird pokemon as it looked up at her fearfully. Then she realized that this had been the same way she had felt only moments before. She should get rid of Honchkrow now and put an end to this.

"What are you waiting for!" Honchkrow said. "Finish me off now!"

Aamira considered the bird for a moment, then raised her hand to use Aura Sphere. But then Ruko's cane came down in front of her. Aamira looked up at him in surprise.

"That's enough!" He said. "You've won. It's over. And do you really think you would be able to do it?"

A chill ran up Aamira's spine. "Honchkrow… I'm letting you go this time, but if you come around here again I'll have something to say about it."

Honchkrow struggled to his feet, glowering at Aamira. "I-I don't need y-your sympathy!" His voice shook with a combination of anger and the pain from his injuries.

"I wasn't giving you any sympathy! Now get out of here before I change my mind!"

Honchkrow shook with anger as he stared at Aamira. He seemed to be in too much pain to be able to fly. Aamira sighed, reached into her Collection Bag, and threw Honchkrow an Oran Berry. Honchkrow stared at it, but didn't eat it.

"You foolish Riolu!" He shouted, still seething with anger. "You'd really save me even if in the future it's the cause of your own downfall. Have you forgotten I don't necessarily need to fly?" Honchkrow kicked the berry back at Aamira. "You'll need that next time we meet…"

"So? Why don't you leave?" Aamira asked. "Or did your master abandon you?"

Honchkrow glared at Aamira worse than before, then started glowing and disappeared. In his place a gold coin was left. There was a strange symbol on it that sort of looked like a slanted backwards h. Aamira picked it up and looked at it curiously.

"I've seen this before." Ruko said. "It's been appearing in a lot of places. No one understands what it is, but now I'm starting to believe that it might be the icon of this new threat that Honchkrow is working for."

Aamira, still seething with anger from her fight with Honchkrow, could no longer hold herself back and turned on Ruko. "Why didn't you help me! He could have killed me and it seemed like you wouldn't have even cared! And why did you tell me to let him go! Are you in league with them!"

Ruko looked deeply hurt at this accusation. "The truth about my former student… I lost him because of that Honchkrow…"

Aamira looked up at him guiltily. She had never felt this horrible before. Why had she snapped at him like that?

"I'm sorry… I just couldn't stand to see that happen again. The thought paralyzed me. Lucario are supposed to be able to master their emotions. If I couldn't master my emotions, then what good would I be as a teacher?"

Aamira's eyes filled with tears. "Don't blame yourself… Not letting emotions get the best of you is the first lesson every Riolu learns, but I don't think anyone can really help it. I lost control too… Honchkrow killed my younger brother before I even really got to know him. I couldn't let him do the same thing to Quill, though it was obviously an empty threat."

"The guilt you feel is natural. But I too wonder if letting Honchkrow go was the right decision. I wonder when it was that I noticed, but at one point I realized that Honchkrow was in more danger than you were."

"So, maybe I should have just finished him off?"

Ruko thought for a moment. "No, I don't think so. I doubt our enemy, whoever they are, would like this one bit. Now his most important servant is in debt to one of his enemies."

Ruko couldn't have been more right. Honchkrow laid on the ground whimpering in front of his master. Whatever Aamira's attacks had done his master's had done ten times the damage. He sobbed and pleaded for forgiveness that never came. Every time he would do this his master would attack again.

He was looking into the crystal ball again, looking over for the umpteenth time the battle between Aamira and Honchkrow. "Your failure in inexcusable. We were going to leave you there to Aamira, but it was obvious she didn't have the heart to finish you off herself. But yes… this could be useful to us…"

"P-Please! M-Master! Give me one more chance!" Honchkrow said.

"You fool!" He turned on Honchkrow again and attacked once more. Honchkrow whimpered horribly with pain. "We warned you! We cannot stand failure for a second time! We will make your death unbearably slow and painful…"

"No! P-please! You can't do this!" Honchkrow almost seemed close to tears.

"Hard to believe I was once impressed by your power." Raichu said coldly. "You're nothing but a whimpering coward."

Their master was starting to grow on Raichu. That cold uncaring and everlasting tone in his voice was so admirable. But he was nothing. "Honchkrow's powers far surpass your own. You have no right speaking that way to one stronger than you while they're in no position to defend them self." He turned back to Honchkrow. "We will give you another chance, Honchkrow, but only because Raichu's weakness would be even worse than your constant blundering!"

Honchkrow closed his eyes and bowed his head shamefully. Raichu looked at him, uncaring that he had just been insulted, that Honchkrow was in pain, or even that he had somehow saved his life.

"But there's… there's something else." Honchkrow almost didn't dare to speak. "The Murkrow are my loyal servants. If I had called them, Aamira would have been no match!"

"You're wrong." His master moved behind the crystal ball and the image of Ruko appeared. "Do you recognize this Lucario?"

Honchkrow looked at him and his heart seemed to have stopped for a moment. "That old sage!"

"Finally you realize… As long as Ruko is with them we can't do a thing. Had you called the Murkrow his fear would have been increased, along with his anger. Had you done that, not only would you have still lost but you'd probably be dead."

So it was because of his own stupid mistake that he had lived at all. He hadn't summoned the Murkrow so Aamira was able to defeat him. Had he summoned the Murkrow that sage would have defeated him. Then he realized.

"You sent me into a no win situation!" Honchkrow whimpered. "You knew I would lose!"

He smiled. "You're not as stupid as you look. But it was necessary, for now we know Aamira's greatest weakness…" An image of Quill appeared in the crystal ball. It was obvious that he was very pleased to have learned this, though he couldn't do anything with the sage around.

Honchkrow didn't say anything. If this were true then why was he suffering for this defeat? He had known Honchkrow was going to fail so why was Honchkrow being tortured for it now? He didn't understand it. It is truly a mad world when your enemies are kinder to you than those on your own side.

Later at dinner Aamira and Ruko told the rest of Team Sleuth everything that had happened. Quill was devastated before, but even more so when he found out the only reason Aamira had been able to win was because Honchkrow had threatened his own life.

"So what's the new attack you used?" Gengar asked.

"I believe that the attack was one called Payback." Ruko said. "It's a strong attack that gets stronger if the one using it takes damage first. But it's really hard for Riolu to learn."

"You're not mentioning something…" Aamira said. "I can tell; what is it?"

"You're right." Ruko said. "There's something I forgot to tell you about darkness that might make you more fearful of it. Darkness isn't evil, but it's fueled by negative thoughts and emotions. This is what makes it so dangerous and so widely feared. This is the truest reason of why people think of darkness as evil. But the only real danger comes from using it. Dwell too long in darkness and you might just lose yourself in its infinite depths."

Aamira smiled. "Is that all? I knew that already. My other teacher knew how to use Dark Pulse, which is an attack made with negative emotions and memories. He seemed to lose a bit of himself when he used it so I asked him not to use it again, and he didn't." Ruko had a grave look in his eyes but Aamira continued. "And either way, I don't think I could use darkness all the time. But even if I had to I can see in the dark."

Ruko smiled. Apparently he liked this explanation. 'But I fear what's to come. In the future Aamira might be afraid of her own power…'

"There's something I've been wondering about though." Aamira said. "When he first showed up we were talking about the pact that supposedly has to be made to turn into a Dark Reader. He seemed to know what it was. He called it the Moon's Eye Pact."

"I've never heard of such a thing." Ruko admitted.

"He mentioned it once…" Glameow seemed ashamed of herself to remind them that she had once worked for Honchkrow. "It was just something he mentioned off handedly though, so I don't know much, but apparently a pact has to be made in a certain place called the Eye of the Moon. Both of the pokemon making the pact must individually lose something then gain the same thing, though it has to be something that both must protect."

"So we should try looking for the Eye of the Moon." Quill said. "I'm sure if we can find that place, we can find some answers."

Aamira nodded.

Though while both Ruko and Aamira had expected that Honchkrow's master wouldn't like it that he owed a debt to Aamira now, his master didn't even know. The only thing Honchkrow had unknowingly suffered for was the mention of the Moon's Eye Pact. Now he knew there was no avoiding what would come. A new legend had begun.


	13. Chapter 13 Scrying

Aamira couldn't sleep. Too many things were worrying her that night. It was true she had defeated Honchkrow, but he was stronger than ever and no doubt he would get stronger. There was also this Moon's Eye Pact, supposedly the only way of becoming a Dark Reader, but Aamira had never done it. It made no sense. The worst was this legend that Aamira and Quill were apparently apart of. Aamira couldn't shake the feeling that everything was connected to that legend. The only problem was that the legend was so old that no one knew it.

Aamira sat up cross-legged in her hammock and looked out the window across the plains of Pacis. The sky there always amazed her, but now it felt as though someone was following her, hiding in the darkness and watching her every move.

A chill ran up Aamira's spine and she jumped down from the hammock. If she couldn't sleep and she couldn't shake off the feelings she was getting, she could at least try to walk it off.

She headed down to the café and wasn't too surprised to see Quill and Ruko there talking. She had left before either of them and Quill never came into their team's room, so she figured he was still here.

"Aamira." Ruko said. "Don't you need to get some sleep? Your real training starts tomorrow after all."

"I can't sleep." Aamira said. "Too much is going on. I can't take it."

"I know how you feel…" Quill said. "You know what's bothering me? Everything seems to happen to you and there's nothing really tying me into this. So why am I even in that legend at all?"

Something like that would have insulted anyone else, but Aamira understood what Quill was trying to say. "If we knew what that legend was, maybe that would explain it better…"

"Unfortunately I've never heard of the legend either." Ruko said. "But we're not the only ones concerned about this. See? Charmeleon and Typhlosion are still here along with Team Sandstone."

Aamira looked between the two teams, who were sitting apart from each other. 'Beware… A traitor lurks within the walls…' Aamira looked around for the source of the inaudible voice that she recognized from one of her dreams.

"What is it, Aamira?" Quill asked.

"Did you hear a voice a minute ago?" Aamira asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

"No, nothing like that." Quill said.

"Well this is worrying. Maybe it's something only Aamira could hear." Ruko said.

Aamira shouted over to Sandshrew. "Hey, Sandshrew. Did you here anything weird a minute ago?"

"No, should I have?" Sandshrew asked.

"You might've just imagined it." Quill said. "You know, it's getting kind of late and we've all sort of got our mind set on this legend."

Sandshrew jumped on top of the table and fired a Swift at Charmeleon. It hit his glass that he was just about to take a drink from causing it to shatter and spilling his drink everywhere.

Charmeleon jumped back quickly. "Sandshrew, what's gotten into you?"

Sandshrew ran over and sniffed at Charmeleon's spilled drink. "It's poisoned."

"You see!" Aamira said. "It's NEVER just me imagining anything!"

"How could it have been poisoned?" Typhlosion asked.

"Aamira, what did that voice that you heard say?" Quill asked.

"It said there was a traitor." Aamira said.

"But there was no one else in here besides us before I got that drink." Charmeleon said. "It couldn't have been one of us…"

"No, we can't think that!" Aamira said angrily. "If we can't trust our friends then who? And why would anyone want to get rid of Charmeleon anyway?"

"Charmeleon's supposed to host the tournament in Ignis." Typhlosion said. "Since he was the winner of the tournament last year he has to host it this year in Ignis."

"Wait, is that the secret?" Quill asked.

Typhlosion nodded. "It was supposed to be a surprise, but I don't know why anyone would want to get rid of Charmeleon other than the tournament. I'm afraid that it might have to be postponed for a while to investigate this further..."

"Ignis is where Entei and Moltres's gems must be." Aamira said. "So whoever is behind this must be trying to ruin the tournament and steal the treasures."

"But we still have one of them." Quill said. "And Entei's must be hidden in the side of a volcano since Suicune's was in a plateau and Raikou's was in the side of a mountain."

"Something's amiss here…" Aamira thought suddenly and pulled the Icy-Gem out of her bag, which she had brought with her out of habit. "We never brought this back… This has Articuno's power in it. If we don't bring this back then there will be an imbalance between ice and lightning. Not only that, but it would be easier for them to capture Articuno if they wanted to."

"We have to go to Glacies." Quill said.

"I'll come with you." Ruko said. "I wouldn't want to miss it if Honchkrow suddenly showed up."

Aamira thought about how different Ruko was from Lucario. Both of them were very serious, but while Lucario usually did things by the book, Ruko seemed a little looser. And while Lucario was a bit cold but still nice at the same time, Ruko was warmhearted but seemed to act a bit cruel when it came to training. Both of them seemed to have personalities that conflicted with their natures and yet both of them were exact opposites. It was a bit confusing. Even more so since Aamira had had both of them for teachers.

"We should get going then." Quill said. "How are we supposed to wait for tomorrow like this?"

"While rest is usually essential, I'll have to agree with Quill on this." Ruko said as if Aamira was his teacher. He laughed at the bewildered look on Aamira's face. "Well aren't you and Quill the leaders of Team Sleuth? I can't always act as if I was your teacher."

He was definitely nothing like Lucario…

The three of them set off that same night. The route they took was a little different from their previous one since they were coming from another country. They crossed through the mountain range into the frigid north. Winter was coming again, which they could only tell by the amount of daylight that next day. It was always covered in snow up there even in the winter, though it apparently got considerably colder during the winter.

Their sense of time thrown off, it seemed to have only taken them half a day to get there, though it was actually a full two days. They arrived in Crystal during the last few minutes of daylight. They were greeted immediately by a bunch of little kids, who apparently all aspired of becoming famous Investigators some day.

"Hey it's Team Sleuth!" It was Crystal, their Glaceon friend.

"Hiya, Crystal!" Quill said happily. "It's been a while!"

"Too long." Crystal said with a happy smile. "And I had no idea. My nephew! When Espeon told Glaceon and I, you can believe I was surprised. And I guess that would make Aamira my niece!"

Aamira blushed and started laughing happily. She had almost forgotten what it was like to be around family. And she had also forgotten that Glaceon and Crystal's son Eevee, who would be their cousin, was actually working with them on a daily basis.

Quill looked around at all the little kids who were still yelling and talking excitedly about their guests.

"After Articuno returned and Regice took over being temple guardian again, I wasn't needed there anymore." Crystal said. "So I decided to follow my sister-in-law's lead and become a teacher at a new school here. Hopefully there will be a lot more Investigation Teams soon and it will get a little safer here."

"Wow, that's great!" Aamira said. "A new school for future Investigation Team members."

"That's not all that's new either." Crystal said. "Did you hear? After the name Investigators Brigade was given to the old Special Services, they decided to set up a base in every country where Investigation Teams can come and work whenever they're abroad."

"Why hasn't anyone thought of that before?" Aamira asked. "I mean, it makes a lot more sense than having to stay at those Inns every time we got to a different country. There's usually not a lot of room for visitors with all the Investigation Teams."

"That's the main reason why they did it." Crystal said. "Glaceon's going to be in charge of the one in this country. Can you believe it? But he's still so timid; I hope he doesn't over do it… Oh, by the way. What brings you here?"

Aamira took the Icy-Gem out of her bag. "We need to give this back. Tempestas has the Spark-Gem and we're going to be bringing the Fiery-Gem to Ignis in a while. There's something else too. We're afraid Honchkrow might show up here."

Crystal nodded worriedly. "Yes, I've heard about him. The same Honchkrow from Atra, if I remember correctly…"

Both of them had completely forgotten that Crystal was one of the pokemon who had been kidnapped by Mismagius.

"By the way, who's your friend?" Crystal looked over at Ruko who was playing with some of the kids. He had snuck away without anyone noticing. "He seems really nice. Good with kids too, in spite of his tough appearance."

"That's Ruko." Quill said. "He's a sage from a far away land. He came to Spec— I mean, Investigators Brigade HQ a few days ago. He said he wanted to observe how Investigation Teams work, but all he's really done is act as Aamira's new teacher. I sort of wonder if he even remembers why he came."

"He's old, but pretty strong too." Aamira said. "He wanted to come with us in case Honchkrow showed up here again. To tell you the truth, the last time Honchkrow showed up he didn't do anything. I doubt I've ever seen him attack at full power before."

"And you still fail every time he gives you a test!" Quill said slyly.

Aamira glared at him before continuing. "But I sort of hope he won't need to and that this will all just be a simple delivery."

"Oh! Look up there!" Crystal turned around and looked up into the sky. A pokemon had just flown out of an aurora. It was blue with a white stomach and a beautiful ribbon-like tail that shimmered in the light. Every time it flapped its wings a small gust of wind would send snow flying down towards them.

"Articuno!" All the little kids ran towards Articuno as it landed. Articuno smiled warmly at them and started talking to them in a whispered voice. Whatever it was saying made the little kids laugh.

"It's so funny." Crystal smiled. "The little kids have no idea that Articuno is special in any way. To them it's just another pokemon, though a really kind one. They can't wait for Articuno to come and visit and tell them exciting stories of mystery and lore. They love it!"

"That really is something…" Aamira said. "They don't have a clue how special Articuno is. They treat it like they would any other pokemon and without any special treatment at all. I wish more pokemon were like that… So innocent and thinking that there isn't a thing wrong with the world. Believing if there ever was something wrong that a hero would always come and save the day…"

"And their world is simple too." Ruko said. "To them there are only two groups of people; good and evil. To them good always wins so they do their best to do good. But people come in so many different shades. It's a shame they'll have to figure that out some day. But at least for now they can take the time to enjoy their childhood."

Aamira looked closer at Articuno. It seemed magnificent when it was flying, but now that it was sitting on the ground surrounded little kids of various species Aamira couldn't help but laugh. It looked like a giant blue chicken surrounded by its little hatchlings. It looked over at Aamira and Quill and immediately got up and walked over to them.

For a legendary pokemon, it really didn't seem that big. It was only about a foot and a half taller than Ruko, though it looked a lot bigger with its wings spread out. Unfortunately, Quill and Aamira were relatively small compared to some pokemon, so they didn't notice how small it really was. To them Articuno almost seemed like a giant.

"So it's you two." Articuno said. "My sister Zapdos told me a Riolu with a dark aura came and freed her."

"So Zapdos has already returned." Aamira said absentmindedly.

"There's something I need to know." Articuno snapped at them, making them jump. "Zapdos and I found out something interesting; both of us were freed by a Riolu named Aamira, though the aura that broke through my prison was light. But then Zapdos also told me there was a Cyndaquil there. She looked through the lightning and saw the Icy-Gem glow when he held it."

Quill took the Icy-Gem from Aamira and it started glowing.

"How strange…" Articuno snickered a little then burst into laughter. "I owe my sister Moltres an apology! I told her a long time ago that there would be no way any pokemon that wasn't an ice type could make it glow! And she said it would be funny if it ended up being a fire type! I can't believe she was right! We fought over that for the longest time and of course Zapdos just had to join in… Oh I feel horrible now… But yes, you're definitely the two from the legend."

"You know the legend?" Quill asked.

"Well my sisters and I along with Suicune, Entei, and Raikou all guard a different legend, which is all part of one bigger one."

"Oh, could that legend be the Three Challenges?" Crystal asked.

"Yes." Articuno said. "Around the world there are three legendary pokemon named Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit. Each of them has a different curse for anyone who dares to challenge them. Dare not look into Uxie's eyes less your memory be entirely wiped clean. Dare not touch the pokemon Mesprit less all emotions leave you in three days. But above all else, dare not harm the pokemon Azelf less in just five days the will to live will be gone forever.

"But there are some that seek this curse. For whoever can complete the three challenges by succumbing to these three curses will be given true knowledge, strength, and will be able to feel the emotions of all things. It's said that this might either lead to the world's salvation, or its destruction."

All the little kids were looking up at Articuno, their eyes sparkling with excitement.

"The only thing I can think of would be to ask all six of us our legends. But Suicune and Zapdos have had their memories modified and Raikou was kidnapped. I'm not sure what you would do with only half of the legend…"

"Could whoever's really behind this be after that power?" Quill asked.

"It's possible." Articuno said. "Actually I was a bit surprised upon my return to find out that something happened to Uxie. Apparently he went into a sort of coma. He just floats above his lake completely asleep. He can talk telepathically but even when he does he doesn't seem to be able to remember things too easily. You'll tell him your name and the next minute he'll be asking what your name is."

"But wait, that would mean someone would have to know about the legend." Aamira said. "Which means there's still a chance we'll be able to find out something about it."

"If I'm right, that Mismagius got to half of us, me included, and whoever's doing this got to the other half and erased their memories. If that's true I think you'll only be able to find two parts of the legend at the most."

"Well even that much would help…" Quill said.

Articuno nodded. "I'm afraid to be a burden, but seeing as how you were able to free me from the Icy-Gem, I think you two might be the only ones who would be able to help."

"What with?" Aamira asked.

"Look over there." Glaceon pointed to town square. There were a lot of round electric lights on poles surrounding the square. All of them were flickering slightly though every now and then one would go out. "It's been doing that for a while now. We don't understand why. Eevee came a few days ago to check it out, but he couldn't figure it out either. He said it must have been something natural that's causing it."

Aamira looked up. The aurora was still lighting up the sky. "Well it can't be that bad with this aurora."

"That's the strange thing." Articuno said. "Ever since then, the aurora hasn't stopped either. It's not my doing and I can't figure it out either."

"Aren't auroras caused by solar storms?" Aamira asked. "That's all it is. The solar storm is making the electricity act up and is causing this aurora. Mystery solved."

"Is it really that simple?" Articuno asked. "I woke up months ago in an alien future world that I didn't know. It seems that many more discoveries have been made since then."

"If it's that simple there's nothing to worry about." Quill said. "When the solar storm ends the aurora will stop and the lights will come back on. Until then the aurora can provide light."

"There's nothing like basking in the light of the aurora…" Ruko said. "Auroras are pure energy, just like aura. In fact aurora was literally named 'sun aura' in ancient times. Lucario used to venture north to train under the aurora which constantly gave them energy. They had no need to eat or sleep because of it and it was said to increase the mystic powers or Aura Readers and Dark Readers."

"So my powers are stronger here?" Aamira asked. "That might come in handy."

"You two may not really need to sleep, but I'm exhausted…" Quill said. "I was wondering if it was just me…"

"I guess it is." Ruko said. Aamira laughed.

"It's only about one right now." Crystal said. "I guess you're just not used to it so you're sleep schedule is all messed up now."

"Oh! Let's camp out!" Quill said. "Since the aurora helps you two you can train some more while I'm asleep."

"Why not?" Ruko asked. "Is there a lake or a river somewhere near here?"

"There's Uxie's lake." Articuno said. "You don't have to worry about Uxie though. He always has his eyes opened now but he's lost the ability to steal memories."

"I suppose that'll work." Ruko said. "Maybe we can get some information out of Uxie if he can remember something for just two minutes."

"You'll find his lake in the south east." Articuno said. "You'll know it when you find it."

The three of them set off almost immediately. The little kids watched them leave, somewhat sad that their heroes and their new playmate had to leave so soon.

"I can't wait to be an Investigator!" One of them said. They all started talking excitedly.

It took them about twenty minutes to get there. Quill got tired and eventually Aamira had to carry him on her back. Ruko laughed at the sight of a Riolu having to carry a Cyndaquil. Quill woke up again when they got to the lake. He started a fire so Aamira and Ruko wouldn't freeze. Ruko's fur was a little thicker than Aamira's though.

"Oh wait, I forgot." Aamira pulled a cloak out of her bag. "I've been carrying this cloak around for some time."

Quill yawned. "You actually carry that around with you?"

Aamira blushed and put the cloak on without answering. She looked at her reflection in the frozen lake. She definitely looked like a younger version of Lucario with eyes like a Lucario's, this cloak on, and the Nightmare Gem tied onto her collar.

Quill yawned and curled up in the fire. "You have no idea how relaxing this is…"

"So why'd you want us to camp by a lake?" Aamira asked.

"To teach you how to scry." Ruko said. "It's the ability to see the past or future or different locations by looking into water or fire. Some use a crystal ball but real crystal balls are hard to find or make. Originally Lucario and Riolu were able to use the natural form of the crystals used to make them to speak with one another over large distances. Aside from communication there's another ability that's different for the person using it. It might be a clear vision of the past or future or it might appear in symbols."

Ruko touched his hand to the frozen surface of the lake. An image appeared on it. There was a Pidgey in a nest. A Pidgeot flew down and landed on the edge of the nest. "What's this?" A Seviper suddenly came up the side of the tree and snapped at the Pidgeot. The Pidgeot flew away even though the Pidgey kept crying out to it. The Seviper attacked the Pidgey. The Pidgey jumped out of the nest and flew off at the last minute. Ruko watched the Pidgey fly off.

"Are you okay?" Aamira asked.

Ruko seemed to come out of a trance. "Yes, of course! So it's like I was saying. Sometimes it will appear as a clear vision or as symbols that would only make sense to the one scrying. And other pokemon capable of scrying are the only ones who can see the symbols. So if Quill were looking into the lake, odds are he wouldn't have been able to see it."

'But you never know.' A voice echoed in their minds. 'And only those who can discriminate truth from the lies can destroy the barrier between earth and skies.'

"Is that Uxie?" Aamira asked.

'Who's Uxie?' The voice said. They saw a figure floating above the frozen lake. It was definitely Uxie.

"Uhh… So what was it that you just said?" Ruko asked.

'Said what?' Uxie asked. 'When did you get here?'

"Forget it, he can't remember." Aamira said.

'Of course I remember. You are Aamira. The one who saved the world before along with Quill and Lucario. But Mismagius was being manipulated and even she didn't know.'

"Mismagius was being manipulated?" Aamira asked.

'Who is Mismagius?' Uxie asked. 'Who are you?'

"It really is as bad as Articuno said…" Ruko said.

'Articuno. She came here not too long ago. She was looking for someone named Uxie.'

"I doubt we're going to get much information." Aamira said.

'Don not you want to know?' Uxie asked. 'Ruko, about your student?'

"What do you mean?" Ruko asked.

'I am sorry. When did you get here?'

Ruko and Aamira both groaned.

Aamira noticed hollowed out spots on Uxie's tail and on his head. She remembered that Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit each had rubies on their tails and heads. "Is that why you're forgetting? Because your treasures were stolen?"

'The Links of Memory…' Uxie said. 'They were stolen long ago. And I have been like this. The Links of Will and Emotion still remain with their guardians. I was the first to be sealed away. Inside my own mind. I'd be forever grateful if you found that traitor! The one who stole the Links of Memory from me.'

"Traitor?" Aamira asked. "So you know who's behind this?"

'Who's behind what?'

"Please Uxie! Try to remember!" Ruko said.

'Remember what? My memory is fine, Ruko. The traitor thinks he is the chosen one. He is looking for the others to fulfill the legend.'

"What do you mean by others?" Ruko asked.

'Other what? I'm sorry; I cannot remember anything past that. Articuno's legend. It evolves around that.'

"Don't you mean it 'revolves' around that?" Aamira asked.

'Evolves.' Uxie said. 'Evolves around the legend. Wait for him to come. The First Riolu.'

"I think his memory might be acting up again…" Ruko said. "We should go back to scrying."

"So how does it work?" Aamira looked into the frozen surface of the lake but saw nothing.

"You have to clear your mind and let your aura flow into the surface of the lake. Then you might see something."

Aamira tried it. She placed her hand onto the cold wet ice. She felt her aura seeping through to the water's depths. Aamira stared blankly at her reflection. She fell into a sort of trance. It took her a while to realize what she was looking at. At first she thought that she was either imagining it or that her eyes had changed color. Then she realized that these eyes were a little larger than hers. The blue eyes reflecting it the water widened and Aamira shouted and fell back. She heard a voice in the lake scream too.

"That's unusual." Ruko stood up and tried looking over the lake. "It wasn't something in the lake."

"Whatever it was could see me!" Aamira said. "It was looking at me!"

"Scrying can also be used to communicate, as I have explained. Often in ancient times before Delibird carried messages and more people were able to scry, they would scry to communicate. It's possible that someone's been watching you and that when you tried scrying you saw them too."

"I could only see the eyes. I think it must've been somewhere dark… Those blue eyes seemed sort of familiar. I don't know why."

"You're seeing eyes now?" Quill stretched and sparks came from his back.

"Oh, did we wake you?" Ruko asked.

"It's no big deal. Hey Ruko, you seem to know a lot about ancient times, don't you?"

"I'm a sage. I've done a lot of traveling. In my journeys I've heard many stories, which I've been able to find out more about by Aura Reading and scrying. I've learned a few of their languages too."

Ruko smiled, as if thinking about all of his memories from his travels, but there was something on his mind now. What Uxie said and what he saw in the lake made no sense. But as much as he thought about it he could only come to one conclusion.

The pokemon looked through the crystal ball. At first he thought he had just imagined it, but then when he realized what he had seen, he shouted and fell back.

"Master! What is it?" Honchkrow asked.

"That meddling sage!" he shouted. "He's taught her how to scry! Now we can't spy on the Riolu anymore without Aamira sensing us! She almost saw us, but we think we backed away before she could tell what we were." He turned to Honchkrow. "I can't scry directly anymore to spy on our friends. You've finally got the chance to prove yourself, Honchkrow! Give all of your most trusted Murkrow a stone. Have at least one of them around Aamira, Quill, the old sage, and our ally at all times!"

"You don't really trust him, do you master?" Honchkrow said. "He swore his loyalty to you when you promised to give him something. But are you sure you can trust him?"

"You don't know the legend, Honchkrow. But we do. We don't trust anyone, which is the precise reason you don't know about the legend." He held up some red chain links. "Thanks to the Links of Memory we are now the only one who knows the full legend. We have left behind only a few pieces of the legend that are sure to mislead them. That small bit of information that Uxie leaked to them is nothing. They'll never figure out what it means by the boundary of earth and sky. But just in case I must find the sister pokemon… But what is it? That's the only peace of information I don't know!"

"But with the tournament approaching it shouldn't be too hard to find out."

"Yes. The descendants. If the legend is true they'll be attracted to each other. And then we can take both at once. Get Raichu. Make sure he doesn't know anything about this. He's essential if we're going to find that other one. Since he lost his emotions he's the only one who can."


	14. Chapter 14 Uxie's Notebook

"You're getting closer, Aamira." It was that same inaudible voice as usual.

Aamira looked around. She was in the middle of a dark forest. There was a gap in some of the trees that she could see a lake through. Where was that voice coming from? This wasn't her usual dream, even though she had "heard" that voice before.

"Who are you!" Aamira yelled.

"You don't remember me? I'm hurt."

"What! Who…? Lucario, is that you? Stop messing around!"

"Who's messing around? You've caused a lot of grief, don't you know? Pact or no, I don't care anymore!" A shadow appeared in the gap in the trees. Aamira couldn't make out what it was. All she could see were these horrible blue eyes. "Why did you leave me behind!" The shadow turned into that human kid that Aamira kept seeing in her nightmares. It was torture just seeing him and not having any idea who he was.

"I don't even know who you are! You're making a mistake!"

"You're the only one that made a mistake, if I can remind you." It raised one of its hands and the ground opened up under Aamira. Aamira shouted as she fell down into the darkness. She heard Quill shouting out to her. She wouldn't ever see his again.

"Aamira!" No, Quill's voice was real. "Aamira wake up!"

Aamira woke up with a jolt and sat up, shaking in the snow and sweating in spite of the cold weather.

"Are you okay?" Quill asked. "You just suddenly collapsed and started twitching."

Aamira was holding her head and shaking furiously.

"Must've been a pretty bad nightmare." Ruko said. "Maybe you should take off the Nightmare Gem every now and then."

"No way!" Aamira grabbed the Nightmare Gem tied on the collar around her neck. "I haven't taken it off for months and I'm not going to now!"

"She's really attached to it." Quill said. "It used to be Lucario's, her former teacher."

"You see him, don't you?" Ruko asked. "Sometimes at night you see Lucario and you think it's just a dream."

Aamira stared at him blankly. "How did you know about that? I haven't told anyone about it."

"Scrying is usually a difficult ability to learn. I thought it was unusual that you picked it up so quickly. Since you wear that gem whenever he thinks about you at night you'll supposedly have a dream in which you visit him."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Quill asked.

"I didn't believe it really was Lucario. I figured he was an enemy disguised as Lucario trying to trick me into giving him some information. Even when he gave me advice on what I should do I figured he was just trying to gain my trust."

"Funny thing about Dark Readers." Ruko said. "Even though they're supposedly evil they have an ability to see who their real friends are. You said you weren't sure if Lucario was really Lucario. You would be sure it wasn't him if it really wasn't him."

"So it was Lucario? But I haven't seen him in so long. I thought it was him in that nightmare but whoever it was seemed evil… and he had those blue eyes…"

Ruko looked over the lake. "It was probably a good thing you didn't tell Quill about this. If our enemy really has been scrying to spy on you, odds are they would've heard you mention it and would've used that to their advantage."

"So why haven't I been seeing Lucario lately?" Aamira asked sadly. "You said that if he thought about me I'd be able to see him. But that dream I just had was strange… The thing in my dream turned into a human. I think I used to know that human, but how would it know about him? I'm not sure if it was a trick; it does feel like I forgot something important though…"

Quill looked up at Aamira. "Are you alright? You seem more shaken up than you're acting. What happened in that nightmare?"

Aamira shivered, though not because of the cold. "The ground opened up under me and I fell through. It was dark and I couldn't see anything. I saw the stars above me, but they got farther away as I fell. It was so dark. It felt so real. I thought for sure when I hit the bottom I would die…"

"A falling dream. Of course." Ruko said. "One of the most common nightmares. If it's not being pushed off a building it's falling through the ground. The feeling that you're spinning and the jolt that wakes you up just before you hit the ground. Arguably one of the worst nightmares there is."

"That was it! Now I remember!" Aamira said. "When we were in Tempestas that was the first time that person showed up in my dream. I woke up and Noctowl was still awake. We started talking and I asked him if he knew anything at all about Dark Readers. He said they had to once be Aura Readers but there was two ways for an Aura Reader to become a Dark Reader."

"Two ways? Are you sure?" Ruko asked.

"I'm sure that's what he said, but he said he couldn't remember what they were. And that person mentioned a pact and you said one of the ways to turn into a Dark Reader was a pact. Wait, didn't you say there were two types of people who become Dark Readers?"

"You think the other type of person becomes a Dark Reader a different way?" Quill asked. "So what's the other type of person?"

"I can't tell you." Ruko sounded almost mad when he said it.

"Why? Do you not remember?" Quill asked.

"I remember but I'm still worried. If I can find out more about the Moon's Eye Pact then I might tell you."

'The Eye of the Moon. Found in the depths of the Vale of Shadows.'

The three of them turned to Uxie.

"He can be pretty reliable at times." Quill said. "If only his memory wasn't so messed up then maybe he could tell us more."

"Maybe we could try to find those Links of Memory things." Aamira said. "Maybe if he got them back he would be able to remember some more."

'The Links are no longer a part of this world. They are in the same as the Eye of the Moon. But everyone has been there before though they do not realize it.'

"What do you mean by that?" Quill asked.

'Mean by what? I am sorry, when did you get here?'

"I prefer losing my memory to this…" Aamira said. "How could anyone live this way?"

'I am only two thirds alive this way, though devastating considering what I am. What is the pokemon of knowledge without any real memory? If you could find my Links I would be grateful. But that place is so hard to really get to, even though everyone has been there before… Hello, who are you?'

"His memory's gone again." Aamira said.

"I don't think so." Ruko turned around and the rest of them did too and saw Glaceon running towards them.

"Hey, Team Sleuth!" He said. "I've been looking for you." He stopped and took a step back nervously when he saw Ruko. "Oh, who's your friend?"

"This is Ruko." Quill said. "Aamira's new teacher."

"H-he's like the Glacies pokemon. Warm hearted in spite of the cold. I-it's almost unnerving for some reason… Oh, but I almost forgot why I came here! We think we've found out what's causing the aurora and the trouble with the electricity."

"It was a solar storm, wasn't it?" Quill asked.

"It sounded right. I looked it up in the library when Crystal told me and it was just like Aamira said, but then someone found something. We're not sure what it is yet, but the aurora seemed to be coming from it."

"Well let's go check it out." Quill said.

They heard Uxie laughing behind them. Glaceon hid behind them and the other three turned back to Uxie.

'What is forgotten is forgotten.' He said. 'What hasn't happened will be forgotten. It's a never ending cycle; how can we defeat it? I don't mind so much. The Eye of the Moon was forgotten long ago. Now to everyone it seems as nothing but a dream!' He laughed again. 'Hold onto your dreams, my friends. I know you've been having the nightmares too, Quill.'

Quill jumped out of surprise. "How did you know that?"

'Being of knowledge. What would you expect? And we are so much alike.'

Something strange happened. The whole time Uxie had his eyes half opened. Now they suddenly opened wide, as if he were silently screaming, then he fell out of the air above the lake. He broke through the frozen surface and fell into the water.

"Uxie!" Aamira took of her cloak and ran onto the lake before any of them could stop her. She dove into the icy water after him. He was sinking, deeper and deeper into the water. Aamira swam after him. The water got darker and colder the further down she went. Aamira was shivering horribly and it was getting harder to hold her breath and every now and then she would swallow a bit of water.

Finally she was able to grab one of Uxie's tiny arms. Even in the freezing water it felt horribly clammy. Something was definitely wrong. Aamira looked into his eyes. Articuno was right about him loosing his ability to take people's memories by looking into their eyes. Or maybe it just didn't work because Aamira had already lost hers.

Aamira swam frantically for the surface, but when she got there she seemed to have drifted away from the hole in the ice. She looked around, hoping to find it. When she couldn't she started noticing how much water she had been swallowing. 'I have to calm down.' She thought. 'I have to think, not just swim around frantically.'

It was amazing what panic had done to her. The solution had seemed so simple but in her panic it hadn't even occurred to her. Aamira raised her hand above her and used Force Palm. The ice cracked slightly, but it didn't break. She hammered away at it frantically with the bone on the back of her hand and broke through. She raised her head above the water and gasped for breath. She grabbed Uxie and lifted him onto the ice. She grabbed onto the ice and tried to catch her breath. Every now and then she would slip and have to grab onto it.

Aamira looked over and saw Quill, Ruko, and Glaceon running over to her from about twenty yards away where the other hole in the ice was. Ruko and Quill each grabbed onto one of her arms and pulled her out of the water. Aamira laid on her back and started to cough up water.

"What were you thinking!" Ruko shouted at her more angrily than any of them could have believed. None of them had ever really seen Ruko mad before.

"I was thinking I was trying to save Uxie. You know, the poor legendary pokemon who lost his treasure and was sealed into his own mind?"

"Aamira's always sort of reckless like this…" Quill said. "You just have to get used to it." In spite of this Quill seemed just as worried. Aamira looked past him at the sky, which had gotten slightly lighter, so Quill wouldn't be able to see how guilty she was feeling for worrying him so much.

'Where am I?' Uxie asked. 'Why aren't I floating above the lake?'

"He doesn't remember." Quill said. "Oh I can't stand to see Uxie like this…"

Aamira rolled over and put her hand on Uxie's head. She could feel a strong aura blocking her, but she didn't do anything. "I could use Aura Release, but I'm afraid to. Because of the way he is, what if he completely loses his memory? Or loses his mind?"

'Please…' Uxie looked up at her with sad eyes. 'I can't stand it. Every now and then completely forgetting everything and then cursing myself a few minutes later for forgetting stuff I knew so well that it had become a part of me… Even if it permanently damages my mind… I don't care… You don't know what it's like to be trapped in your own mind…'

Aamira looked to the others, who didn't seem to know what to do. Weren't Aura Readers supposed to protect legendary pokemon? Wasn't that what Lucario had told her? What she had heard wherever she went? What would happen if she did end up making Uxie worse?

'Aamira…!' Uxie looked up at her sadly.

Aamira couldn't take it anymore. She put her hand on Uxie's head and used Aura Release. She felt the familiar feeling of the barrier of aura that sealed Uxie shatter easily in her hand.

Uxie started shivering and lost consciousness. Aamira, who had used up some of the last of her energy, did the same.

Aamira woke up a while later in a hospital room. It was surprisingly really warm. Aamira just wanted to lay there for a while, but the next second Quill ran over to her.

"You were worse than we thought." He said. "Because you struggled so much to get above the water you became hypothermic. I know you wanted to help Uxie, but don't you think you could have waited until you were better to do it?"

"Where is Uxie?" Aamira asked.

Quill sighed. "He's lying in the other bed. I'm going to go see the thing Glaceon was talking about before Uxie collapsed. The doctor says you need to stay here."

Aamira could tell Quill was irritated, but nodded anyway. Aamira waited for him to leave before sitting up. Why did she do what she did? She remembered what Uxie had said right before it happened. 'Being of knowledge. What would you expect? And we are so much alike.' Uxie was a lot like Quill, in a way. What was it about them that was so eerily similar? Whatever it was had made Aamira feel like a protective sister. She jumped into the water after him without even hesitating. Aamira didn't even know this pokemon, so why did he remind her so much of Quill?

"You're Aamira, right?" Aamira turned to Uxie. He wasn't talking telepathically as usual. "They told me you helped me, but I don't remember. I can remember a lot of stuff now. That's because of you, right?"

Aamira smiled, not knowing why she was so glad that this almost complete stranger, legendary or not, was alright. "I'm glad that Aura Restore didn't do anything to damage your mind."

"You're wrong. It did." He didn't look very sad though. "I can remember a lot of stuff from before my chain links were stolen now, but the doctor said it affected my mind in a way that keeps me from making any new memories. Now every time I fall asleep I'll forget everything. But that's not a big deal. It's better than forgetting everything every few minutes. And I can always write stuff down that I don't want to forget. Though I suppose it will be strange waking up confused every day wondering what I'm doing here when just yesterday I was drinking some fruit juice with Mesprit on a beach." They both laughed. That definitely wasn't something Aamira had been expecting.

Uxie looked out the window at the starlit sky. The aurora seemed to have stopped for a while. "This at least I won't ever forget. And if I ever do I'd be ashamed to call myself the pokemon of knowledge. In all the worlds the stars and the moon are exactly the same. Even in Desolo, though it's hard to see them in its glorious light. Only one world is different."

"Then that's the world we have to go to. I just know it." Aamira said. "But I'm worried."

"About your friends? They seem to really worry about you. But don't you worry about them just the same? Isn't your worry for them what makes them worry so much? I don't think you need to worry though. They're pretty strong. I think because you used Aura Restore it triggered some reverse effect. I ended up seeing your memories in my sleep. I love how you all care so much for each other. The same way I do with my brother and sister, even though I'm not sure you can even really say we're related."

"So Quill's having these nightmares too?" Aamira asked.

"He's not the only one. This specter has been appearing in people's nightmares for a long time. I wonder why he's so interested in you two though. Lonely, I suppose. Doesn't have anyone but himself and people in their nightmares. The others and I are lucky. Every legendary pokemon has another, or a few others, like them. He's alone except for another pokemon that hates him more than any other."

"He's the one behind this, isn't he?" Aamira asked. "I remember those eyes. They're blue like the ones I saw in the water."

"I'm afraid to say I don't remember. I have a few blank spots in my memory. All that I know is that you've been carrying a treasure belonging to the one behind all of this for some time now."

"What?" Aamira lifted the Nightmare Gem up to eye level and looked at it fearfully. Could it be that Lucario's precious treasure could really have belonged to that pokemon at one point? "His treasure…?"

"Maybe…" Uxie said. "I wish I could remember more about this. I know he used to be a king, but at one point he started to sink into his own hatred. It overcame him and the people in his kingdom cast him aside."

"A king?" Aamira looked back at the Nightmare Gem. "Lucario told me that this gem belonged to the king of Atra… the king of Darkness… And every king since then wore it around their neck."

"You think they were Atra's king? It's possible I guess. Knowing that there's something I don't know is frustrating. You know what that's like though, don't you?"

"Yea… I don't like this!" She clutched the Nightmare Gem in her hand. "I don't care if he's a king or not! If he wants to hurt me and my friends then he's an enemy."

Uxie smiled, but there seemed to be something uncertain in his smile.

Tears came to Aamira's eyes as she thought about the last dream she had. Who was that person that it turned into? A friend of hers, probably, from when she was a human. Aamira wished she could remember. For the first time in a long time she wondered about her long forgotten past. About all the friends and family she forgot. About her home and the places she used to play every day with her friends. Why couldn't she remember?

"You're thinking about your lost memory." Uxie said. "This condition I have is only temporary. If you can get the Links of Memory back then I'll remember everything and be able to get my powers back. If you do that I might be able to restore your memory. It won't be easy, but being the pokemon of knowledge, I'll accept the challenge!"

Aamira smiled. "I wish I remembered though, if I would even want to remember. Who would want to remember a horrible past just for one person? And I don't know if that person was even my friend."

"But if he was then wouldn't it be worth remembering a horrible past just to remember that one person?"

"That's a contradiction…" Aamira said. She didn't like contradictions. It made perfect sense and no sense at the same time. And that itself was contradiction. It was a perfect case of "it is what it is".

"But isn't that how you feel? And don't forget as the pokemon of knowledge I practically invented contradiction."

"Yea… I guess your right…"

Uxie was writing in a notebook, no doubt to keep from forgetting all of this.

"You know that won't really keep you from forgetting?" Aamira said.

"Yea, I know, but it's better than completely forgetting. I won't even remember writing any of this when I wake up the next time, but in a way it's better because while I can't remember anything, I can't forget either."

Aamira looked out the window at the starry sky. "Too bad not everyone has a notebook. I'd hate to forget the stars and the moon."

"We do all have a notebook. It's just that other people's notes are easier to erase. Sometimes whole pages are torn out. But don't keep your notes to yourself, because if you do then you'll never get them all memorized. It's a lot easier to remember when more than one person is doing the remembering. Just like if someone ever missed a few days of school. They can always get a friend to take the notes for them."

"You know what? I'm going to engrave this into my skull if I have to." Aamira said. "When all of this ends, I'm not going to let it end. There's no real way to share memories with someone in perfect detail, but after all of this ends I think I'll turn this into a story. That way everyone will remember."

"Why not? And you can use my notes too if you want to. In case you forget." Uxie smiled.

Aamira suddenly felt a pang of guilt. "Um… Did Ruko say anything? While I was asleep?"

"Unconscious, you mean? Yea he did. 'These kids… Do they all have to act so hastily nowadays?' Then he started laughing like a maniac. 'Oh she's so much like him! It's almost like he's back, but that can't be possible! Oh, get with the times you old coot! These kids are going to surpass you in no time!'"

"He really said that?" This didn't make Aamira feel any better, just… awkward.

"Yea, he did. He's kinda funny. You can't tell if he's ever mad or amused, in shock or near tears. Pretty excitable that's for sure. It seems like he's trying to remember if that was how he acted when he was younger. As if he was trying to remember when he stopped being a kid."

"Or maybe it's me who can't remember. I wish I could act a little younger… If for once I could be the little sister…"

Uxie laughed. "I know I look sort of young, but I'm one of the oldest pokemon there is. I'll be your big brother. Maybe it would make you feel like a little kid."

"Aamira!" Quill came running through the door. "You're not going to believe this! This stone that the aurora seemed to be coming from was just stolen by a strange pokemon!"

"What?" Aamira said. "What was it like?"

"I don't know. It was so fast. Ruko thought you might be able to help if you had healed enough, though I don't see how you could have."

Aamira stood up. She had been healed. "It's the aurora I think."

"You sure? It disappeared a while ago. Oh, but who cares, at least you were healed. We need to get going."

"Alright." Aamira put Lucario's cloak back on, which had been placed on the table by her bed. Then she grabbed her bag. But she stopped and turned to Uxie.

"I'll be fine." He said. "Go on. This might be important."

Aamira smiled. "Of course, you know whenever I see a notebook now I'll have to remember you."


	15. Chapter 15 In the Face of Darkness

Though a lot of people didn't know about it, Glacies actually had a laboratory build under the ice and snow. In fact, this lab was where Eevee had learned everything he knew about electronics and technology. Even though he was considered a great inventor, most of the ideas aren't original; he just found ways to make them work.

This lab was the place where the stone had been kept since its discovery. It was a dark blue-green stone that was somewhat shaped like an egg. A strange energy came from it that made almost all electrical equipment just simply stop working when the stone was near them.

It was found just hours before it had been stolen. The strange thing was that it was found in the mountains inside a crater. Everyone saw something fall in the mountains a while ago because it lit up the whole sky. Before finding it no one thought it could have any connection with the trouble they've been having with the electricity. Everyone had simply thought it was just a meteor.

But it wasn't. And a strange pokemon stole the stone, though no one knew why.

Prinplup paced back and fourth waiting for Quill to come back with Aamira. Waiting wasn't something he was good at. Other than the weird rock he always wore around his neck, he was just like any other Prinplup; stubborn, self absorbed, and convinced he was the most important pokemon in the universe.

Glaceon yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Pacing like that won't make them get here any faster, you know?"

"They're usually pretty fast." Ruko said. "You don't really need to worry."

"Oh yea?" Prinplup turned on Ruko. "Did you happen to see what that pokemon was? No! Why? Because it was even faster! I'm telling you it could be halfway to Ignis by now!"

"Relax, will you?" Glaceon said. "It didn't even head towards Ignis. It headed into the mountains. Probably to the place where that stone first showed up."

"And why would it go there! Why would it bring the stone back?"

"Maybe that pokemon was just stealing it back. Maybe we were the ones who stole it in the first place." Ruko pointed out.

"And what 'we' are you referring to? You're just the Lucario who decided to tag along with Team Sleuth. I found the stone and don't think you'll get any credit for the discovery when they bring it back!"

"What I'm trying to say is that the stone might have already belonged to someone."

"And they just left it in a crater? Who would be stupid enough to do something like that? I found the stone, I made the discovery, so it belongs to me!"

"Finder's keepers, huh?" Ruko sighed. "But technically that pokemon did 'find' it in your lab."

Quill ran in followed by Aamira. "We're here."

"It's about time!" Prinplup snapped at them. "And if I might make a suggestion, how about starting your investigation with your Lucario friend? He's acting a bit suspicious."

"Suspicious how?" Aamira asked.

"All I'm saying is that the stone might belong to that pokemon who stole it and they just wanted it back. Prinplup might have been the real thief when he took the stone back here." Ruko said.

"What did the pokemon look like?" Aamira asked.

"It was too fast to see!" Prinplup said frantically. "All I was able to see was this blur of red before it took the stone. I heard this strange, metallic, pokemon cry too."

"I didn't hear anything!" Glaceon said. "You just made that up!"

"Oh, so now I'm a thief and a liar?" Prinplup turned back to Team Sleuth after snapping at Glaceon. "Find that stone and prove them wrong! Find that thief and bring him back here!"

"But we don't even know where to start…" Quill said.

"Are you a famous Investigation Team or not!" He snapped at them. "The only place we have to go on is the crater where it was found in Snowy Valley! The thief might have brought it back there!"

"H-Hey! That's what I said!" Glaceon said timidly.

"What are you talking about!" Prinplup said. "You never said that! I thought of that just because it was logical! That's where the stone came from, so that's where you should start your investigation! Now go! Go to Snowy Valley!"

Aamira and Quill glanced at each other, sharing a not so secret thought about the way Prinplup was acting. Only Prinplup didn't seem to know what they were thinking.

Snowy Valley was simply that; a snowy valley. There wasn't even much of a dungeon. But then again, this was peaceful Glacies. Only the end of the dungeon wasn't so snowy. The dirt and snow had all been thrown all over the place and the trees were lying on their sides. It was obvious that if they just followed the trees they would find the crater.

"There's nothing here…" Quill said. "Well that's a little disappointing."

"Wait…" Aamira jumped into the crater and started digging away some of the debris from the impact. She found what looked like the entrance to a cave underneath. "Could this be a new dungeon?"

"Looks like it!" Quill said. "Cool! We're going to be the first to explore it! And maybe find that stone at the bottom. Look, the way those rocks and stuff were laying didn't make sense. It's like someone put them there on purpose to hide the entrance. That would never have happened just because of the impact."

"That's true. So I guess for now we just need to worry about what this pokemon is that we're chasing."

Aamira and Quill both walked into the dungeon. Quill noticed that Aamira seemed a little more quiet than usual, but didn't ask why. He would probably get the usual "I'm not sure" or something like that.

An Electrike snuck up behind Aamira. Quill used Flamethrower and knocked it out. A Lairon attacked Quill from behind and Aamira attacked it with Force palm.

"These pokemon seem a little more violent than normal…" A Venomoth attacked Quill and he countered with Flamethrower.

"Maybe the strange energy around this place is making them go wild." Aamira said. "I can't remember ever feeling something like this. It's like the magnetic field was distorted around here. Maybe from when that stone crashed."

"So it changed the magnetic field around here?" Quill sneezed. "Oh Glacies… I think I'm catching a cold…"

"Hopefully we'll be back in Pacis soon. This has become more stressful than I had imagined."

"Forget Pacis, let's go to a tropical island somewhere!"

Aamira smiled, but didn't say what she was thinking.

A Skarmory swooped down on them. Aamira and Quill used an Aura Sphere and Flamethrower combo and knocked it out. A bunch of other pokemon ran towards them, but instead of attacking they stood in front of a corridor that the two of them were just about to go through.

"I think I was wrong." Aamira said. "This is too organized for it to just be a rage caused by a change in the magnetic field."

"They're protecting something…"

"We're sorry for this, but we need to get through!" Aamira used Force Palm on the nearest pokemon. Quill used Flame Wheel. All of the pokemon scattered and Aamira and Quill ran past before they could really figure out what had happened. At the end of the corridor was a larger room. It was lined with carvings of ancient and bizarre looking pokemon that they had never seen before.

At the back of the room the stone shone on a pedestal. It was then that they realized, because they had seen temples like this before, that this stone was actually a legendary pokemon's treasure. But where was the pokemon that had stolen it?

"This is a bit strange…" Quill said. "So what kind of pokemon do you think this belongs to?"

"Who knows?" Aamira said. "I'm sure I could tell you if we actually saw it but it doesn't seem like anyone's here. But look around at all of these carvings. And this writing in Unown runes? This place is obviously pretty old…"

"I'm just wondering. What are the odds that the stone would make a crater right above the buried entrance? And why did that stone go flying through the air anyway, for that matter?"

The stone started glowing and there seemed to be a change in the atmosphere that made them both dizzy. Aamira's eyes started glowing and she went into some sort of trance.

"Aamira!" Quill yelled. "Aamira! This isn't the time for that!"

There was a strange pokemon cry from behind them. Quill turned to see what it was. It was a tall red and green pokemon with white eyes and small black pupils. It had arms and hands and stood upright and had a stone just like the other one embedded in its chest.

Though it didn't say anything it seemed to be shocked to find Quill and Aamira there. It made a strange metallic sound that sounded like growling. When Quill didn't do anything it growled again, louder than before.

"Aamira, now would be a good time to wake up!" Quill said.

The pokemon came towards them. Quill backed away and used Flame Thrower. The pokemon's eyes widened in surprise. It started to transform. Its hands disappeared and it became larger and more bulky than before. It raised its arms and blocked the Flamethrower easily. Then it transformed again. This form seemed a bit stronger than the other two. It used Nightshade, which came out of a slit on its head. Then it transformed again. This form was super fast. It attacked Quill left and right with its regular attack, which was a lot stronger than normal due to its speed.

The last thing that Quill remembered seeing was the pokemon standing above him, looking down at him menacingly. He lost consciousness and woke up later in Glacies' hospital.

"Are you alright?" Ruko asked when Quill started to come to.

"Yea, I'm fine." He said. "What about Aamira?"

"Still unconscious." Ruko said.

"Unconscious?" Quill jumped out of bed. "After I went down Aamira must have finally gotten out of that trance and tried to battle that pokemon, but was defeated like I was…"

"Aamira went into a trance?" Ruko seemed to be more interested in this than worried. "What did the pokemon look like?"

"It was green and red with white eyes. It could transform and it had a stone in its chest that looked like the one found in the crater. And its growling sounded like some kind of machine."

"Deoxys." Uxie said. "From what you said it seems the pokemon you've faced was Deoxys. They're supposedly a vicious pokemon from a different planet. But it being an alien I regret to say I don't know much about it."

"An alien?" Quill said. "So this Deoxys is something from space? And that stone too I guess. I guess that explains why it seems so strange. But wow, an actual alien! So there is life on other planets!"

"But isn't this a bad thing?" Unfortunately, it was Prinplup, who by this time Quill and Ruko were really starting to dislike. "If an alien is coming to our world and it's supposed to be vicious then we have to do something to defend ourselves!"

"For once I agree…" Uxie said crossly.

"Then I'll go round up some volunteers!" Prinplup said importantly. "And I'll lead them into battle too since you still need rest, Quill." Prinplup walked out with his head held up high like some sort of war hero.

"What's with that guy?" Quill said.

"He's a Prinplup, what do you expect?" Uxie asked.

"You've got a point." Quill said. "That Prinplup in Milotic's team acts a lot like this…"

"This is serious though." Ruko said. "For now Deoxys hasn't tried to leave Glacies, but if it does who knows what it might do if it really is that dangerous?"

"Hmm? What's this?" Uxie was standing in front of Aamira's bed. "Strange… Really strange…"

"Huh? What's strange?" Quill asked.

"Aamira's not unconscious." Uxie said. "Just paralyzed, in a way."

"Aura build up?" Ruko asked. Uxie nodded.

"What's aura build up?" Quill asked.

"It's a medical condition that only Riolu can get. Lucario can only become Lucario after gaining complete control over aura and are therefore impervious to aura build up. But if a Riolu loses too much aura or has too much they fall asleep for extended periods of time. These conditions are called extensive aura loss and extensive aura build up. Though it was hard to tell because the aurora started up again and is interfering with my ability to sense aura, I thought Aamira's aura seemed stronger than usual."

"But this is strange." Uxie repeated. "Her aura isn't decreasing. Riolu fall asleep to either rapidly gain aura or for their aura to rapidly deplete. But Aamira's isn't changing. I wonder if it could be because of the aurora?"

"This isn't good!" Quill said. "It's not like we can just carry Aamira out of the country! Isn't there any way we could fix this?"

"Well some kinds of metals are able to absorb aura. But this much…? I'd say there's only one type of metal that can absorb this much. Pure metal." Uxie said.

"Great! So where do we get some?" Quill asked.

"Well, that's the problem…" Uxie said. "It's a type of well compressed metal only found in meteorites."

"Meteorites!" Quill said.

"There's sure to be some metal like that back at that crater." Ruko said.

"But Deoxys…" Quill looked over at Aamira who seemed to be sleeping peacefully. "Well, I guess we don't have a choice… I just hope Deoxys isn't around when we get there…"

After a few hours they finally arrived back at the crater.

"Nothing seems to have changed from the last time." Quill said. "So where would the meteorite be?"

"If I'm right it should be right in the center of the crater." Ruko said.

"I didn't notice anything when me and Aamira were here, but we might have missed it."

The two of them slid down the side of the crater. It was only at that moment that they realized someone else was there too. It was Prinplup, and he looked badly hurt.

"Hey, Prinplup, are you alright!" Quill tried to help him up, but Prinplup slapped Quill with one of his flippers.

"Stay away from me…" Prinplup said. "I can take care of myself…"

"You sure don't look like you can." Ruko said absentmindedly. "No doubt you're a bit like the Growlith who swims halfway across the river before getting tired and turning back."

"What's that supposed to mean, you crazy old bat!" Prinplup shouted at him. "Look, I'm injured! Just take me back to Crystal already!"

"I thought you said you could take care of yourself…" Quill said smugly.

Quill and Ruko looked around for a while before accepting that there was no meteorite there. The whole time Prinplup complained about them wasting their time. Finally they decided that, while they hated to admit it, Prinplup was right. So the two of them dragged Prinplup back to the hospital. Both the doctor and Prinplup himself said that he was fine, but when a bunch of people came to visit he started moaning and groaning pitifully as he recounted his single handed battle with Deoxys. Of course he didn't blame his own weakness for his defeat, but instead blamed everyone else for not wanting to go along with him.

"We're so sorry, Prinplup." One of his visitors said. "It's all our fault. You wouldn't be like this if we had agreed to go along with you.

"I blame our cowardliness…" another of his visitors said. "If only we had been a bit braver…"

"Oh brother…" Quill said. "He's got them eating out of his wings. It was his own fault and no one else's that he's like this!"

"I agree." Ruko said. "But for now we must try to figure out a way to wake Aamira up."

"Excuse me." A pokemon came in through the door. It was another Lucario. "Are the rumors I've heard true? A Prinplup tried to battle against Deoxys?"

"Oh it was horrible!" Prinplup said. "I fought as hard as I could! No matter how many times Deoxys attacked, I refused to run away! Even when I was on my last legs I refused to give in!"

"Oh, you're so brave!" A younger Piplup said to Prinplup. "You're not afraid of anything! Not even Hunter!"

"H-Hunter!" Prinplup stammered. "N-No way! No! What do you want with me! I mean, it's not like there would be no reason you'd come looking for me, since I'm me and all, but—"

"Save it." Hunter said. "I don't care about you. Just tell me about Deoxys. Actually, never mind. Anything coming from the beak of a Prinplup can't be any good."

"It's been a while, Hunter." Ruko said. "So the name finally matches the Lucario, I see."

"If it isn't old man Ruko." Hunter said. "I thought you were dead. Guess I was wrong. Never thought I'd meet my old teacher here though. Of all places."

"You haven't changed, I see…" Ruko said.

"Uhm… Who is this Hunter guy anyway?" Quill asked.

All of the pokemon who were in the room at the time went into a frenzy.

"You've never heard of Hunter!"

"The most vicious bounty hunter in existence!"

"The most noble of any Investigator!"

"Wait, how's that possible?" Quill asked.

"Listen kid, stay out of my way if you don't want to get hurt." Hunter said. "I help when I can, but only when it's a benefit to me. It's easier that way and it's the only way that makes sense."

"Have you no real ambition?" Ruko asked calmly. "You were my first student with a dark aura, and not my last. I doubt Aamira will end up the way you did."

"You know nothing of darkness, old man." Hunter said. "You said to work along with my aura. That did nothing. I never got the power I wanted. So now I let my aura do the talking and just go along for the ride. I do whatever my head tells me to and nothing it doesn't."

This Lucario wasn't like most of the other Lucario Quill had met so far. He had a cold and focused stare. The tone in his voice was deep and emotionless. He seemed like he didn't care about anything. His right eye was red like any other Lucario's, but the other one was a dark shade of purple. It was such a dark shade it almost matched the pupil. He carried an assassin's sword around his waste, which everyone was eyeing fearfully. The scariest part was that had his eyes been just a little different, he would look exactly like their friend Lucario. That glare, which seemed a little creepy for Hunter, and even the way he stood, he looked exactly like Lucario, except maybe a little older and with fur just a slightly darker shade.

"But I suspect that my mission this time would be a benefit to you also, so tell me where I can find Deoxys." Hunter put his hand on his sword.

Quill was scared, though he didn't want to admit it. "It's in Snowy Valley… In a dungeon at the bottom of the crater…"

Hunter took his hand off of his sword and walked out without another word.

"Well that worked out!" Prinplup said. "Now we'll just let Hunter take care of things! Problem solved! There's not a pokemon alive that Hunter wouldn't be able to defeat! Except, maybe, myself."

"You're so full of yourself!" Quill snapped at him. "But what should we do now?"

"Weren't you listening!" Prinplup asked angrily. "We do nothing! There's no point! Why not just take some time to relax? That's what I'D do."

"But Aamira's still unconscious." Quill said. "There must be something we could do…"

"Well she can't be very strong, can she? To be knocked out like that? If it were me I bet I could even have saved the world a lot faster than all of you did together!"

"Why do you have to be so irritating!" Quill asked.

"Of course it's true that you could play the hero once…" Ruko said. "That stone around your neck. Do you think we could have it?"

"You're joking!" Prinplup snatched the stone he wore around his neck. "Let you have my treasure just to gain your respect! No way! I found this not long ago at the crater! It's my own treasure. Do you have any idea how valuable a meteorite is!"

"That's a meteorite?" Quill asked. "It's a lot smaller than I imagined."

"After seeing the crater for myself I figured that it must be really small to make a crater that size. That's when I remembered the stone around Prinplup's neck." Ruko said.

"Oh, that's right!" Quill said. "I almost forgot. You're an Aura Reader, aren't you? Oh, but if Hunter was your student… then does that mean he's an Aura Reader too?"

"Unfortunately." Ruko looked out the window at the aurora. "No doubt he came here because of this aurora and heard about Deoxys. I'm afraid of what he'll do, but I suppose it's not really any of our business. Anyway, Prinplup, we need that meteorite. That's the only thing that could wake Aamira up. You'd be a hero."

"Well since it's for something so important, then sure!" Prinplup took the meteorite from around his neck and threw it to Ruko. Everyone must have thought that by "something important" Prinplup had meant Aamira, but it was obvious to Ruko and Quill that what he really meant was making himself a hero.

"I can't believe it." Quill said. "The meteorite was here the whole time… Sure it made things a little easier."

"And, though I don't like to admit it, we can rely on Hunter to solve our Deoxys problem. He is a professional after all…" Ruko said in a dark tone.

Quill sat the meteorite next to Aamira who was still in a deep sleep.

"I hope this works…" Uxie said.

The meteorite started glowing. A dark purple and blue aura came from Aamira and was drawn into the stone. Aamira woke up almost directly afterwards and looked around confused.

"Hey, Gramps." Aamira said cheerfully to Ruko. "Do either of you know where Deoxys is?"

"Back at the crater." Quill said. "Some sort of hunter, who's actually named Hunter, went there to fight it. At least we don't need to worry about it now, right?"

"He's going to fight Deoxys?" Aamira immediately jumped out of the bed, grabbed the meteorite, and walked towards the door.

"Hold on." Ruko said. "Would you mind telling us what's going on?"

"The Deoxys are in trouble! We have to help them!"

"Wait, there's more than one…?" Quill gasped. "That stone! Deoxys is a legendary pokemon, right? So that stone belongs to a different Deoxys and it's sealed inside of it!"

"But didn't you say that Deoxys attacked you and Aamira?" Ruko asked.

"Oh… No that's not exactly how it happened…" Quill said. "It's my fault… Deoxys was probably trying to talk to me and I was too scared to realize that since it's from a different planet it probably doesn't speak the same language as us… I thought it was growling… So I actually attacked Deoxys."

"Everyone makes mistakes." Aamira said.

"Yes, but now Hunter's after Deoxys." Ruko said in an irritated tone. "He's especially interested in the treasures belonging to legendary pokemon. It wouldn't surprise me if that's what he's really after."

"Then we have to stop him!" Aamira said.

The three of them ran out as fast as they could and headed to the crater again. Deoxys was nowhere to be seen. The three of them walked into the semi-buried dungeon entrance and headed to the place where they had first met Deoxys.

"Hey Gramps, this Hunter person was one of your students, right?" Aamira asked Ruko while they were walking. "Was he the one you're always talking about?"

"No, but the two of them did have a connection of sorts. But I'm a bit worried, seeing as how he's a Dark Reader like yourself."

"So that's why you're worried about what kind of person I might be…" Aamira said somewhat sadly. "From what the two of you have said he doesn't sound like a really nice Lucario… We've met a really arrogant Lucario before, but never a bad one."

"The species of pokemon doesn't matter." Ruko said. "But Hunter doesn't agree. Because of an old legend he thinks that Lucario and Riolu are the ultimate species and that any other species of pokemon are just scum."

"I really don't like this guy…" Quill said.

They reached the bottom chamber in the dungeon. The pokemon who had been guarding it before were now all laying unconscious on the ground. The three of them ran into the back and all stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Hunter standing over Deoxys.

"Lucario!" Aamira said out of surprise.

Hunter turned around and stared at them. "Didn't I tell at least two of you to stay out of my way?"

Aamira took a step back. At first she had thought Hunter was Lucario, but he definitely wasn't. There was something eerily familiar about him that Aamira didn't like though.

'He's just like Raichu, isn't he? He doesn't seem to have any emotions…' "Who are you!" Aamira shouted. "I mean who are you really!"

"What you mean by that I'm not entirely sure. No doubt you can sense I'm different from most people though… Because what I'm after is the Ultimate Power."

"You never were very smart, were you?" Ruko asked. "The Ultimate Power is just a fairy tale! There's no such thing! Why I even told you that story I'll never know."

"So you haven't told the story to your newer student?" Hunter asked. "Then I'll do the honors. May greed take hold of your heart as it does everyone eventually. It's said that if anyone can withstand the three curses of Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit, they'll gain an unbelievable power. That power was first touched when the Atran Tyrant took control of Atra, Desolo, and nearly took control of this world. But the pokemon and humans of this world were stronger than any in Atra and Desolo. So he created a new pokemon to divide the pokemon and humans. The worst of his enemies were a pokemon and human who had actually fallen in love with each other.

"The king sent this new pokemon to get rid of those two enemies, but it was caught in a storm and lost its memory. By pure luck it happened to wash up on the beach where the human and pokemon lived. They raised it as a son. But then when the king found out about this he recaptured his once faithful servant. The pokemon lost any hope of ever seeing his family again. But the worst came when the tyrant actually killed the human. Its emotions gone, that pokemon escaped and took revenge on the tyrant. It then swore to take revenge on every human. And on it's so called mother as well for falling in love with a human. It had completely forgotten that its original reason for all of this was to avenge the human who was killed by the Atran king. But now it had lost it's emotions as well. So without emotion, will, or memory it was given a seemingly unstoppable power.

"But the pokemon who raised it wouldn't give up on it. The two of them battled. Their fight lasted for weeks. Then something happened which gave the mother pokemon an ultimate power. It was so powerful that both of the pokemon were turned to stone."

Aamira gasped. She remembered then a pokemon who was sealed in stone.

"That's the power I seek. If I can control that Ultimate Power then I would be second best to none. But the first matter of business is finding out how to get that power. I think it had something to do with that battle between the two pokemon. So if I could find a worthy opponent that power might become my own."

"None of it's real!" Ruko said. "What will it take to get you to realize this?"

"Oh, but it is real." Hunter smiled for the very first time. "Those two pokemon were sealed in stone, right? Well those stones remain. But where they are I won't tell you. I can still feel it, their power trapped in the stones. There's not a doubt in my mind that those stone pokemon were once alive."

"You've found them…" Ruko looked suddenly at Deoxys. "Wait, so is this the reason you've been looking for legendary pokemon!"

"Finally catching on I see…" Hunter said. "But this Deoxys is like all the others. It's just as weak. It looks like I'll never find a real challenge. Do you know what they call me in some places? The Legend Slayer. Because of how many legendary pokemon I've fought."

'There's no way he's that strong…' Aamira was shaking. She couldn't help it. It seemed like a repeat of Raichu all over again.

"But then I started to think…" Hunter took a step towards them. "My old master… And two of the pokemon who once saved the world… Surely you three would be perfect for unlocking that power… But Aamira, I have to admit I'm mostly interested about the darkness in your heart. It hasn't grown enough yet, but I'd love to see what you can do with your power so far."

As if some hidden signal had set the two off, both Hunter and Aamira started fighting right away. Quill wanted to fight too, though he wasn't sure why. Ruko had to hold him back. Though he didn't want to say anything, Ruko was also interested in what would happen.

"I don't understand how they fight like this…" Quill said to Ruko as they took cover behind some rocks.

"Dark Readers are said not to be able to stand each other. So when two meet their anger and hatred increases the power of both of them. They fight until one admits defeat and they can't hate any longer." Ruko said.

"A battle of hate? But that's horrible…"

"Aamira's no match, I'm afraid." Ruko said. "She'll lose for sure, and I'm wondering how she'll take it."

Aamira and Hunter were attacking each other with constant vicious attacks. Neither seemed to be letting up at all, though Aamira was obviously taking more damage. When they both used Aura Sphere it was obvious that Aamira's aura was darker, but Hunter was a lot stronger. When he noticed this, a strange, evil spark appeared in Hunter's eyes.

Aamira was exhausted. She could barely move, while Hunter was hardly even out of breath.

"Not bad, though you'll never get any better with a teacher like Ruko…" Hunter said. "At least this was more of a challenge than Deoxys. Do you hate me?"

"No…" Aamira said.

"That's the problem. How can you call yourself a Dark Reader? Darkness is caused only by negative emotions… How can you expect to use your abilities to their full extent when you have no negative feelings."

"But you don't have emotions at all…" Aamira said.

"You're wrong. The first lesson for any Riolu is to master their emotions. I can feel whatever I want whenever I want, but that doesn't matter to me. I just listen to what my aura tells me to do. If you can't find a technique that's more powerful than mine you'll always be second best."

"I don't care if I'm second best. I don't care about power. If these are the things that Dark Readers care about, then I don't see how I could even be one!"

"Nor do I…" Hunter turned to leave. "This isn't the last time we meet. I'm interested to see what you will become. I wonder if it's possible for you to ever sink into darkness… Unless you can touch the true power of darkness I doubt you'll be able to survive long in that other world."

"Other world?"

Hunter left without saying anything else.

'He's just trying to make me curious…' Aamira said. 'If I start to wonder about power then there would be no doubt that I would end up like him.'

"I can't believe it…" Quill ran over to Aamira. "What was that all about? Before whenever we've fought against pokemon like Hunter it only ends usually when someone's unconscious. You seem really tired but you're still standing. So how do you know who won?"

"I don't know." Aamira said. "Though it's obvious that had we fought to the point that one of us fainted that I would have lost. It was obvious to both of us, which is why I guess the fight ended…"

"Dark Readers are strange." Ruko said. "But it would seem that you at least are that other type of person who becomes dark."

Aamira was starting to have trouble believing this. Maybe it was because of her previous encounter with Raichu, but Hunter's personality made it difficult to believe that anyone with a dark aura could be anything less than evil, in spite of what Ruko had told her. "Oh, hold on!" Aamira ran, or rather limped, over to Deoxys and helped him up. "Are you alright?"

"Yes…"

It was strange. Before Quill could only hear a growl, but now he could understand Deoxys.

"Please…" Deoxys said to Aamira. "Help my friend. I came here looking for him. But his stone was buried very deep in the ground I redirected a meteor so it would help to dig out his stone, but the power of the meteor wasn't enough."

"My aura's in the meteorite now. It should work now, I think." Aamira placed the meteorite on the pedestal that the stone was on top of. Both started glowing and a shape formed around the stone. In a few seconds a second Deoxys appeared.

"My friend…" The second Deoxys said to the first. "It's been so long."

"Indeed it has." The first one said. "I've searched for you for so long. Now finally you're free again and we can finally return home. Thank you, all of you."

The two left not long after. As they left the aurora stretched across the sky one more time before finally disappearing. They could hear cheering from the nearest city. Sound traveled so far in this country. There was something calming about it. And finally, they had a chance to relax.

Uxie returned to his lake that night. The three of them decided to visit one more time and return home the next day.

"Quill, I'm surprised you're not tired yet." Uxie said. "And you haven't eaten anything since coming here either."

"I guess I'm just not tired or hungry." Quill said.

Ruko looked into the sky. "Remember? The aurora gives power to Lucario and Riolu. But also to anyone else who's sensitive to aura."

"I'm sensitive to aura?" Then he remembered something he didn't really think was important. "Back at the crater I could understand Deoxys this time. So did I just suddenly get the ability to sense aura?"

"To hear it, apparently." Ruko said. "Most aura sensitive pokemon can either hear, see, or sense aura. All are extremely useful abilities. It's not something very common nowadays, but there's a theory that I'm starting to form about you two based on it."

"Hey, so can you tell us about the Eye of the Moon? Seeing as how you know I'm not the bad guy or anything?"

Ruko laughed. "That sounded unbelievably childish for you. Oh, very well then. But let's save that for when we return to Pacis. Sound travels too easily here and, in spite of the energy still lingering from the aurora, I'm exhausted…"


	16. Chapter 16 From the Future

"In another world exists a dark lake called the Eye of the Moon. Something about it makes it so that the only thing that can reflect on its surface is the moon itself. It's said that evil things sometimes happen there. Dark rituals to summon evil spirits, curses sometimes put on entire families, and even changing someone's aura by the Moon's Eye Pact.

"In the pact, ones aura can change depending on the darkness in the heart of the pokemon the pact is made with. But if the pact is made with a pokemon with a lighter heart, both pokemon are said to lose their very souls."

Quill shivered. "Lose their souls!"

Ruko nodded. "Yes. What happens after losing their souls in unknown. Some think that the souls are trapped beneath the mirror-like surface of the lake for all eternity, but no one knows for certain.

"But the Moon's Eye Pact itself is very mysterious. There's supposedly an ancient chant that's supposed to activate the power of the Eye of the Moon. Then, through mysterious circumstances, the pokemon making the pact will gain the same power, but each will lose something close to them in return."

"But who would want that?" Aamira asked. "Who would really want to give up something really close to them just for power?"

"It depends on the type of person." Ruko replied. "There are only two type of people who turn to the power of darkness. So now I'll finally tell you what those are. The first is the type of person who are desperate for power. The power of light could be stronger, though it's often harder to control, so this type of person takes the easy way out by turning to darkness. This type of person is what gives the darkness its evil stereotype."

"And? What's the other type of person?" Quill asked.

"The other type… I'm not sure how you would interpret this… The other type of people who turn to darkness are those who don't have any other choice…"

"Who don't have a choice…?" Aamira asked. "This is making me so curious… I wonder what exactly that means for me…"

"And I wonder if maybe any of this has to do with my sudden sensitivity to aura…" Quill said mostly to himself.

"I'll leave the meaning for you to figure out. But anyway, that's all I really know. But judging by the darkness of your aura when you used Aura Sphere, I'd say if you did somehow make that pact with someone, they must have had an unbelievably dark heart. Oh the things that must have happened to them to make them such a dark hearted person."

"But I still don't remember anything about that pact." Aamira said. "How could this have happened? But still… all of the legends and folklore we've heard is kind of exciting. Ancient legends of mystery and adventure. And magic too, it seems."

"Hey, look ahead!" Quill pointed into the distance. Just on the horizon they could see a large forest. No doubt it was still really far away. "It's Sylva. It's been so long."

The three of them had decided to stop by Vine City before returning to the Investigators Brigade. Quill and Aamira both really missed their home.

"Quill! Aamira!" As soon as they got to the city, Espeon appeared and pulled them both into a death hug. "I've missed you both so much! I'm sorry I haven't had the time to visit you!"

Quill and Aamira were both struggling to breathe. Ruko just stood there, leaning on his cane, and laughing happily.

"E-Espeon!" Quill struggled to say while having the air forced out of his lungs. "We can't breathe…!"

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Espeon let got of them and laughed nervously. "Oh, so who's your friend?"

"That's Ruko." Quill said. "He's a sage. But Aamira calls him Grandpa a lot of the time."

"So I'm guessing you heard that Sylva's base was finished?" Espeon asked.

"You mean for the Investigators Brigade?" Aamira asked.

"Yes. They wanted to use that spot where your Treehouse used to be since it finally fell in a recent storm, but then Noctowl found something amazing! It looks like there's some sort of underground temple that your Treehouse was grown over top of. He's still trying to figure out how to open the entrance though."

"Oh, didn't Noctowl mention finding something like that?" Aamira asked.

"Yea, when we were in Tempestas." Quill said. "We should check that out later if Noctowl could ever figure it out."

"Or we could just figure it out ourselves." Aamira said. "But you know, I've been thinking about the library a lot. There are lots of books in there I never had the chance to read."

"Come on, Aamira, you can't say you wanted to come here just to read some books!" Quill said desperately.

"Haven't you realized how much you two have been doing lately? It's a vacation!" Ruko said.

"But we can't just take a vacation out of the blue!" Quill said. "That would be so irresponsible! And there are so many things we need to do!"

"It's not exactly out of the blue…" Ruko said. "Before we left for Glacies, Electivire told me to keep you away for a while so you can have some fun for a while. He also told me not to tell you until I found a good spot to force you to stay at for your vacation!"

"You're… You're not serious!" Aamira said.

Espeon chuckled a little. "Okay, I'll admit I already knew who Ruko was. He sent me a message the night before you left Glacies after you decided to come here."

"But vacations never work for us. Didn't Noctowl tell Electivire that?" Aamira asked.

"I asked Noctowl about that." Espeon said. "He said, 'They definitely need a vacation. Don't let them leave the city until they have some fun!'"

"I can't believe this… A forced vacation?" Quill said.

"I guess Noctowl never heard of a working vacation." Aamira said. "Well if you need me, I'll be in the library." Aamira left Quill standing there looking stunned.

"And what does she plan to do anyway!" Quill asked. "She can't read all those books at once… And what am I going to do? I haven't had a vacation since summer break back when I was in school…"

"Well what did you used to do back then?" Espeon asked.

Quill frowned. "Pretended to be an Investigation Team member…"

Espeon laughed. "Wow… I'm sorry, I just can't help it. You seriously spent the whole summer pretending to be an Investigation Team member? Every year?"

"Every year as far as I can remember…" Quill said. "Maybe I should go to the library too… Oh, I know! I'll go to the museum! Why didn't I think of that before?"

Ruko watched Quill run off before saying anything. "How long before they figure out how to open that temple?"

"Two, three hours at the most…." Espeon said.

The museum looked the same as ever. Only the hall of fame looked any different. They had added a statue of Quill, Aamira, Lucario, and Shaymin to it for saving the world. It had been put up a couple of days after Aamira disappeared from Lake Harmony. Quill had mentioned it to Aamira, but they never got the chance to come look at it. Quill noticed how Aamira's statue still had the scarf she used to wear.

"I almost forgot about that scarf…" Quill said to himself. "It was kinda weird how it disappeared when Aamira did. And she wasn't even wearing it at the time."

"You both looked so young back then." Quill turned to see Dragonite standing in the doorway. "Slow day today. I guess people are getting tired of coming here. Not much to see after a while. Of course that temple entrance found under your old Treehouse isn't helping…"

"You said we looked young, but it wasn't that long ago. Only a few months."

"I remember when you used to come here every day, Quill. You were so timid back then. And I remember the way you would used to hide behind the statues whenever Shedinja would show up. You were timid, but I think you were happier back then too…"

"Happier? What, do I seem to be miserable for some reason?"

"Maybe… But maybe not. You definitely don't seem as happy. You're all about work now and you don't seem to have any fun. Remember when investigating used to be something exciting? Now it's just an every day thing for you. Maybe you don't necessarily need a vacation, but you definitely need a change of pace."

"I used to be happier… But that doesn't seem right… Being in a famous Investigation Team used to be my dream…"

"Maybe that's the problem. You've more than fulfilled your dream, so where do you go from here? For Aamira mysteries are just natural since from the time she showed up here all she's been doing is trying to solve mysteries. But you know there's more than that. So now that you've fulfilled your dream, it doesn't seem like anything's left. You don't have that spark in your eyes anymore."

"Aamira's spark is gone too. All we've been doing is helping legendary pokemon, but what else can we do? Something's going on and we should at least try to stop it since we know we can. But… Aamira's an Aura Reader at least. I don't think I really can do anything…"

"Ah so that's it. You feel pretty useless because you don't have some sort of amazing ability. But what would it be like if you did? It might end up being more like a curse. Just think about how many people always want to get in a fight with Aamira. Not to mention having so much responsibility."

"But I don't think I'm really needed for anything. Even before I always got in the way. Lucario and Aamira did all of the real work. I can't do anything…"

Dragonite laughed and looked up at the ceiling. "I guess I was wrong after all. You're not too different from how you were before."

"It's my nightmare… I always have a nightmare that I'm not really important for anything and I'm eventually just forced to sit back and watch everyone else do what I've always wanted to…"

"You have a nightmare about this?"

Quill couldn't help telling Dragonite everything. He didn't want to tell Aamira because that would only make her feel guilty. But even more he was afraid it was true. Aamira's ability actually let her solve mysteries. That was Quill's dream and Aamira just happened to have an ability like that. He couldn't help but be jealous, even just a little, and he couldn't help feeling guilty for being jealous.

But it was strange how after all of this time, Quill could still talk to Dragonite so easily. Quill almost felt like he was the same as before he became a member of Team Sleuth. He still had problems, they were just different now.

They had been talking for a while and Quill was able to relax for the first time in a long time. But then there was a bang from somewhere else in the museum. The two of them went running through it to see what had happened. Dragonite maneuvered expertly through the statues and everything else, careful not to break them and surprisingly speedy for a pokemon who usually flies everywhere.

At the entrance of the museum they found a bunch of pokemon watching Shedinja in shock as he screamed at Aamira, who was digging around in a pile of rubble.

"HUNDREDS, EVEN THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD! AND YOU DESTROYED IT! AND HERE I THOUGHT THAT QUILL WAS THE ONLY ONE ON YOUR TEAM WITH A HALF BRAIN! JUST GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!"

But Aamira ignored his screaming and just kept digging around in the rock.

"Did you really just destroy the statue of Lake Harmony?" Dragonite asked in shock.

"Sure did!" Aamira said absentmindedly. "Probably decayed… But if it was protected by the rock… But it's supposed to be really small…"

"What were you thinking!" Quill asked. Shedinja still scared him even after all this time.

"Got it!" Aamira held up a small wooden flute of some sort. "I knew it had to be here!"

"What's this?" Dragonite said.

"It's a piccolo." Aamira said. "Like a flute only with a higher pitched sound. I was reading in the library when I remembered a book I had seen before. It was in another language so I couldn't read it, but then I thought maybe it was in that one language I learned to read. So I found the book and it turns out I could read it. It just happened to be about the Guardian's Temple and that the temple was protected by the Voice of the Forest. This was said to be the song Celebi sings when it's time traveling. I kept reading and it actually had a clue to how to unlock it. It said, 'The Voice of the Forest both protects and is protected by the Forest's Guardian.' And then I remembered this statue and figured that it must be hidden in the statue! But there was some sort of powder coating the statue that actually made it impossible for Aura Glasses to see through it so no one knew about it until now. So I figured the best way to find out if I was right would be to smash it to pieces!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" Shedinja shouted louder than before. "YOU BROKE THIS ANCIENT STATUE ON A HUNCH!"

"Sure did!" Aamira smiled at Shedinja. "Wow! This vacation is pretty good after all! It feels exactly how it did when we were in Articuno's temple!"

"Yea, I guess it does!" Quill said, trying to act as cheerful as possible.

"But there's just one problem… Before coming here I asked around to see if anyone knew the Voice of the Forest. But I guess the actual song is so old that everyone forgot it."

Quill wasn't listening. Well, he was, but he was listening to something else. As soon as he looked at the piccolo he heard the weirdest song. It sounded somewhat familiar.

"The Voice of the Forest…" Quill took the piccolo from Aamira. His hands were shaking horribly, but he tried to fight it. When he played the song on the piccolo, all of the grass type pokemon who had been watching them went into a sort of trance. The rest of the pokemon either listened to the song calmly or looked around confused at the grass type pokemon.

"That's got to be it." Dragonite said. "Quill, how did you know?"

"I don't know…" Quill said. "It's like… I just looked at the piccolo and I just knew… It was so weird…"

"But what a strange instrument." Dragonite said. "As you can see it was made, obviously, so any pokemon can play it. Even one without fingers. It's definitely not the type of piccolo you would normally see… And one so small, I'd say this might have actually been played by Celebi."

"That's a pretty good observation." Aamira said. "Do you maybe have a liking for mysteries?"

"Who, me?" Dragonite asked nervously. "Well, obviously since I opened this museum, but that's all! I've never wanted to do any actual investigations or anything!"

"Hey, I just thought of something." Quill said. "If I could play the Voice of the Forest on this piccolo, does that mean I could open the temple?"

"Only one way to find out." Aamira ran out of the museum and Quill followed after her.

"I knew it was only a matter of time." Espeon said. She had been waiting for them where their Treehouse used to be.

"They're just as you said; excitable and with a love of adventure that makes it so nothing could hold them back." A spark appeared in Ruko's eye. "Maybe not even legendary pokemon. So, I'm guessing Aamira was able to play the Voice of the Forest?"

Quill shook his head, obviously excited. "No! No! It was me!"

Ruko seemed really surprised by this. Whatever he was thinking he didn't share it with anyone else. He mumbled something under his breath for a moment, but none of them could make out what he said.

"Well, go on." Espeon said to Quill.

Quill walked up to the spot where their Treehouse use to stand. Under the roots of the collapsed tree was a door that had been revealed when the tree fell and a few of the roots had been pulled up. Quill nervously raised the piccolo to his lips and started playing the song. On the door a marking in the shape of a seed with a vine growing around it started to glow a strange blue color. It spread until the whole door was glowing blue, then it disappeared without a trace.

"Wonderful! Simply marvelous!" Dragonite said, surprising everyone who hadn't noticed him, though Quill didn't seem too surprised.

"What are you doing here?" Aamira asked.

Dragonite's face turned red and he turned away from them. "Such a discovery like this… I'm embarrassed to say I couldn't keep myself away. Not to mention that Shedinja keeps bothering me to find something to replace that statue you broke. So I thought I would come and ask if I could come along with the two of you…"

"Sure, I don't see why not." Aamira said.

"Excellent!" Dragonite turned back around to face them. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" Dragonite walked in front of them and headed into the temple ahead of them. Aamira and Quill both wondered what was up with Dragonite, but decided not to ask.

The inside was a lot more spacious than they had imagined. After walking down some stairs for a few minutes, using the fire on Quill's back for light, they entered the main room of the temple. At first it was impossible to say how big it was, but when Quill lit a vine that ran around the whole room, it was flooded with light. On the left wall was a statue of Ho-oh, and on the right was a statue of Lugia. All around were legends inscribed with different legends, all written in the same ancient Unown language.

"All of this reading…" Aamira said. "This is a treasure beyond measure…"

"Ha! I'm glad you think so!" The three of them looked around for the source of the voice. "I, who have escaped the boundaries of time, protect this place. The Hall of Records! Those who were after a treasure came here. They tried to take my own so I sealed this temple away. They did not notice that the true treasure was written all around them!"

"Who are you?" Quill asked. "Are you maybe Celebi?"

"Oh, you remembered me!" The voice said. "Come! Over here!"

The three of them walked to the far side of the room. There they saw a strange looking seed that seemed to have just sprouted. The roots extending from it seemed to be made of emerald and it wrapped around the seed to form a net-like sphere about four inches in diameter. The seed itself seemed to be topaz, although it resembled a walnut.

"This is my treasure. It's called the Root of Time. It's said to be as old as time itself." Celebi's voice said. Behind the Root of Time, a statue of Celebi stood with its tiny wings outstretched and its arms raised. Its eyes started glowing with a blinding light. When the light faded the real Celebi stood in its place. Celebi laughed. "Have we met before? Or, should I ask, have we met yet?"

"It's adorable!" Dragonite said. "It's hard to believe that something so cute has a power as great as time travel! Such a rare specimen."

"Rare specimen?" Celebi stared blankly at Dragonite.

"Don't worry, he says that to everyone." Aamira said speaking from her own past experience. "But what do you mean by, have we met yet?"

"Do you remember when you traveled through the Forest of Time?" Celebi said. "That forest is my domain, not this temple. And the shrine that used to be at the Lake of Life was my home. I was the one who sent you back to your time when your business in the past was finished. But would you like to know more about that forest?"

"Uh, sure… Why not?" Quill said.

"By going through the forest of time, you go to either the past or the future. The secrets of each can be revealed there and you never know who you might run into. But time travel is a tricky business. If you go through time without the Root of Time you'll either get younger by going to the past, or older by going to the future. The Forest of Time negates this effect. By going through the forest you won't age, but it's extremely tricky to get back to your own time."

Celebi flew in front of Aamira and Quill. "Ah yes, I remember you. Especially from that time the two of you had to travel to another world to confront that traitorous…" Celebi stopped suddenly and started laughing, covering its mouth at the same time. "Ooh, I shouldn't say! You're not supposed to know that yet!"

"Wait, do you know what's going to happen to us?" Aamira asked. "You have to tell us."

"No!" Celebi punched Aamira on the top of the head. "Don't you know the slightest thing about time travel? I've said too much to you already. The past can't be changed but the future is always changing based on people's choices. Before I didn't tell you and you got on fine. Of course…" Celebi froze up and its voice dropped to a whisper. "You two did great, but for some people that wasn't necessarily a good thing…" Catching himself before he could say anymore Celebi shook his head. "Oh, no! I shouldn't speak of such things! If you knew the future that would be devastating!"

"And why's that?" Quill asked.

Celebi flew directly in front of Quill. "Let me try to explain in a way that won't confuse the two of you." Celebi thought for a minute, mumbling to himself about why time travel had to be so complicated that even he barely understood the whole concept, then turned back to Quill. "Basically, if something bad was going to happen and neither of you were able to do anything about it and I told you this, you would lose hope and not try and that bad thing would happen. If something good was going to happen because of the two of you, the two of you would become so confident because you knew what was going to happen that you wouldn't even try, thus ending in failure. Either way it would be a losing situation if I told either of you anything. But in spite of whatever I've told you, it wouldn't even matter since, as I've said, the future can always be changed. Understand?"

Quill scratched his head. "Um… Yea, I think…"

Celebi laughed. "Don't worry, kiddo! It's confusing to a lot of people at first."

"There's something I'm wondering about though, Celebi." Aamira said. "From the way you talk I could only guess that you came from the future."

Celebi nodded, moving his whole tiny body as he did so. "Yup. My past self, or should I say present for your sake, is still sealed inside of the Root of Time.

"It seems not even Celebi escaped this mysterious foe…" Dragonite said.

"But this is different." Celebi said. "The Root of Time is made so the Celebi from either the past or future would be able to awaken the Celebi of present time. So I'll be the one to do it this time."

'Finally a break…' Aamira thought.

Celebi flew up to the Root of Time and started to focus its energy.

"You think I'm going to let you do that?"

Celebi and the other three turned towards the entrance. Standing there was Hunter with his sword drawn.

"Y-you!" Celebi said. "But I thought you were…" He hit himself in the head. "Oh of course… This is the past! That hasn't happened yet…"

"I wouldn't know what you mean," Hunter said, "But I won't let you reawaken your present self." He jumped over Aamira, Quill, and Dragonite and attacked Celebi. Celebi flew out of the way just in time, but Hunter ended up damaging the Root of time. Celebi fell out of the air and was caught by Dragonite just in time.

"Who's this shady character?" Dragonite asked.

"This is Hunter." Quill said. "He was giving us trouble in Glacies too. He goes around trying to defeat as many legendary pokemon as he can."

Hunter threw his sword at the ground angrily. "No! How could I have done something like this!" He picked up a part of the Root of Time that fell off. "I suppose maybe this could work for my purposes at least…"

"Hey you two, something's wrong with Celebi!" Dragonite said.

Quill and Aamira looked up at Celebi. He was breathing heavily and couldn't move.

"My whole body… Feels so heavy…" Celebi said. "What's happening…?"

Hunter laughed. "You fool, Celebi. My intention in coming here was to steal the Root of Time so I could get back what I lost. Damaging it matters not at all. Its power will remain, but Celebi can't be unsealed from it. Since Celebi can't be unsealed that Celebi you're holding doesn't exist any longer. It comes from a future that now will never be."

"Hunter, how could you do something like this!" Aamira shouted.

Hunter smirked. "With my sword, obviously…"

"But why would you…? Why would you do something like this…?" Quill asked. His eyes filled with tears and he collapsed on the floor.

"Quill!" Aamira ran over to him, but he was out cold. "What did you do!" Aamira shouted at Hunter.

"What's happening to is not my doing." Hunter said. "I got what I came for so I'll be going. And it was nice seeing you again, Celebi."

Hunter ran passed Aamira and out of the room.

Not knowing what else to do, Aamira gathered the fragments of the Root of Time and put them in her bag. Dragonite picked up Quill and turned to Aamira. "We should take them to the hospital. There isn't much else to do."

Aamira followed Dragonite out of the temple. The hospital was over run with pokemon from all over the city.

"What's going on?" Espeon asked. "Even Chansey and Happiny are out cold."

"I think I know." Dragonite said as he placed Celebi and Quill on one of the few empty hospital beds. "Celebi is said to be the guardian of the forest. Now that Celebi is dying the forest and any pokemon born in the forest are dying also."

"But what about Quill?" Aamira asked. "He wasn't born here and he's being affected."

"He's not the only one…." Ruko was slumped over in a corner. "Quill is sensitive to aura. Because of a disturbance of aura in this place, Quill is being affected. And so am I…"

"There must be something we could do…" Aamira asked desperately.

Celebi grabbed one of Aamira's hands. "You have to find Hunter…" He said. "If you can get back the piece of the Root of Time he stole and use Aura Restore to fix it, everything will go back to normal."

"But…" Aamira looked around. "I'm not strong enough to fight Hunter… And with Quill and everyone else like this…"

"You won't be alone!" Dragonite said. "I won't let this happen. We have to stop Hunter!"

"Good. You two go then…" Celebi said. "But listen. You have to watch out for Hunter. In the future he will become the world's worst villain. The villain you're trying to find now will be nothing compared to Hunter. I don't know the limits of his power in this world, but please be careful."

"We'll be fine." Dragonite said. "Aamira can track him down using his aura and we'll be able to catch up to him if I fly us there."

"Please hurry." Espeon said. "I estimate that everyone here has only about a day left."

"Don't worry; we'll find Hunter." Aamira turned to leave with Dragonite. Before they left she turned back and looked at Quill, who was still unconscious. "In any case, it looks like our vacation is over…"


	17. Chapter 17 Lost in Time

Dragonite was flying at top speed, taking directions from Aamira who was struggling to track Hunter down by sensing his aura.

"This would be a lot easier if I was a Lucario and I could see aura." Aamira said over the wind.

"Just a little further. We have to find Hunter." Dragonite said.

"But you know, I've been thinking. Since Hunter is a Lucario, he probably knows we're coming. But I don't think he's moving at all. It doesn't seem like he's trying to escape."

"Maybe he's just full of himself. If it's true he's been going around challenging legendary pokemon, that's enough to make anyone nervous."

"Maybe, but I don't think so. This could be a trap."

"I was thinking the same thing. But we're not going to turn back, are we?"

Aamira laughed. "Of course not."

It was getting dark out, which was a bad thing for them. With such little time on their hands they wouldn't be able to sleep. Of course with aura Aamira would be able to find Hunter in the dark, but to Hunter they would be like beacons of light out in a pitch black sky.

They found Hunter outside of a cave. He had lit a fire but he wasn't paying any attention to it. Instead he was concentrating his aura on the piece of the Root of Time that he stole.

"Would you two mind not bothering me!" He shouted without turning to them. "You know you can't defeat me, so what hope do you have of stealing this back from me?"

'Maybe we don't have to fight.' Aamira thought, though every ounce of her being was screaming at her telling her to attack. Dark Readers were natural enemies, and since Aamira and Hunter were both Dark Readers, both of them were itching to fight.

'Dark Readers are natural enemies who fight whenever they meet, and Hunter's definitely the sort to not hesitate to attack, so why isn't he attacking me?' Aamira wondered.

"This is more important than you." Hunter said as if reading her mind. "No matter what it takes, I will get back what Celebi stole from me."

"You say Celebi stole something from you, and you think stealing something from Celebi will make you even?" Dragonite asked. "Or is it something else? Celebi said that someone would be able to use the Root of Time to travel in time. Is that what you want?"

"You're smarter than you look, Dragonite." Hunter smirked. "And I have to admit you looked intelligent to begin with. Intelligence is one of the greatest powers, after all. So let me tell you something. I went off in search of the greatest power. I thought maybe this might be Celebi's ability to travel through time. I challenged Celebi to a battle for the Root of Time, but before the battle even started that little con artist sent me on a trip through time!" Hunter growled. "You really think I'm the bad guy though, don't you? Celebi sent me through time. I was able to go forward in time again, but… Well, let's just say that the ultimate power isn't all that great."

"It doesn't sound like you were referring to time travel when you said 'ultimate power'." Aamira observed. She tensed up, ready to defend herself if Hunter attacked.

"You're not too stupid either, Riolu…" Hunter said to Aamira.

Aamira knew this was supposed to be an insult, though purposely meager just to aggravate her, but she didn't let it get to her.

"So what exactly is it that you're trying to do?" Dragonite asked.

"Get back what Celebi stole from me." Hunter said. "It's true that Ruko was my teacher, but considering how old he is, how long ago do you think it was that I was his student? Because Celebi sent me into the past, I came back years younger than I used to be! My control over aura had diminished to what it once was when I was just a Riolu. Do you really think I want to do everything just because my aura tells me? What Celebi stole was my freedom!"

"Calm down, Hunter." Dragonite said. "Maybe we can help you. But first we need to take that piece of the Root of Time back and bring it back to Celebi. If we don't get it back to Celebi, he, the forest, and anyone born in the forest will die."

"You really think I care?" Hunter asked. "You have no idea what that Celebi is like. If saving everyone else means saving Celebi, then there's no way I'm giving this piece back."

"I understand what Celebi did to you might not have been right, but that's no reason to want him dead. Celebi might even be able to help you if you just ask." Aamira said, somewhat desperate.

Hunter laughed. "If I just ask? Don't act like such a kid. That rotten Celebi conned me. What makes you think he's such a sweet little pokemon? Looks can be deceiving and a cute mask is perfect for evil to hide behind."

"What do you mean by that?" Dragonite asked.

"Celebi's been the one behind everything!" Hunter said angrily. "Honchkrow and everything else that's been going on is all Celebi's doing."

Aamira could hardly believe this. Did Hunter think she would? 'Celebi's eyes are blue just like the ones I saw in the water…' Aamira realized this could be a possibility. 'But how many pokemon have blue eyes? It's nothing uncommon.'

"But Celebi told us what would happen in the future." Dragonite said. "He said that you would end up worse than the person you claim to be Celebi."

"He said that, did he?" Hunter asked. "Of course he would; he's scared. He's afraid I'll tell you the truth so he made up that lie about me. But answer me this; do you think I would be this way if Celebi hadn't sent me through time in the first place?"

Aamira realized what Hunter said was true. Even if Celebi wasn't the villain and what he said about Hunter was true, it wouldn't change the fact that it could have been because of Celebi that Hunter would end up the worst villain. Perhaps this was all a mistake and Celebi was now trying to erase that mistake by framing Hunter as a villain.

"There's one thing that's obvious to me though." Aamira said. "You haven't attacked us for a reason. You're trying to manipulate us to help you for one reason or another."

Hunter turned away from them again. "I thought this one fragment from the Root of Time would be enough, but it seems that I would have to have the whole thing for it to work. Give me the other fragments and I'll help you cure all of your little forest-dwelling buddies."

"You expect me to believe that?" Aamira asked.

Dragonite put a hand on Aamira's shoulder, stopping her from attacking Hunter right when her temper was about to snap. "The only one who can make the Root of Time work is Celebi. I'm sorry to say that you're completely at his mercy any way you look at it. Come back with us and we'll see what we can do. If you don't you'll be stuck this way forever."

Hunter growled. It was obvious that he was growing more frustrated. "But when I go back, won't I be attacked? People can do crazy things when in a panic. And I suppose as a response you would tell me to just give you this fragment so I don't have to enter the city."

"They won't attack you." Dragonite said. "You might be the sort to attack without thinking, but not the people on Sylva. They're different from anyone you've ever met."

Hunter hesitated, unwilling to admit his attempt to manipulate them had backfired and ended up trapping him in a corner. He agreed and the three of them started to head back to Sylva. While Aamira rode on Dragonite's back, Hunter stubbornly insisted on running the whole way back.

While flying through the air, Aamira decided to ask Dragonite something that had been on her mind for the longest time. "Why don't you want anyone to know about you being an Investigation Team member?"

It took Dragonite a second to answer. "Everyone has an inspiration that drives them. Though it may be hard to see, Quill has a real competitive spirit. He wants to be the best investigator; no more and no less. Your whole life since losing your memory has been a mystery, so to you there is no other life. Even Hunter has something driving him, though it is an empty cause. What would happen after he discovers this ultimate power that he is apparently looking for? All he wants is to become the strongest. If he does that, then wouldn't life have an empty meaning afterwards? And I suspect he knows this, and yet something still urges him on." Dragonite smiled though Aamira couldn't really understand why.

"So you lost your inspiration then?" Aamira asked.

Dragonite was silent again for a while. "Team Updraft. That was the name of my team. Truthfully, I wasn't really a big shot in the team. I didn't really care though. Our team had an amazing leader. She had this ability to inspire people in a way that is nearly unimaginable. Everyone thought she was invincible and she always inspired all of us to do our best, no matter how minor our roles in the team. Then one day there was a horrible tragedy. In the country of Incendia Anhelo where our team started, there are a lot of mountains. When an earthquake tore through there, a lot of pokemon were trapped under rocks and in caves. Our team immediately reacted to help any of the pokemon in danger. Our leader had discovered a couple of children who got trapped under an overhanging ledge in the side of the mountain. She knew that if she moved the rocks to free the children, the overhang would most likely collapse. She did so anyway. Both of the children were able to escape, but she wasn't as lucky.

"We all lost our will to go on without our leader, in spite of her heroics. I left the country and came to Sylva to erase my past of investigating. But seeing the younger children all wishing to grow up to become Investigation Team members made me remember. I couldn't stay away from mysteries."

"So why do you have the sudden urge to join an investigation like this?" Aamira asked.

"I said that our leader was inspirational. You're not too different." Dragonite's speed seemed to decrease slightly. "I don't need to be able to feel your emotions like Quill can to know that you already feel like I do. Whenever an Investigation Team starts up, the members are so lively and are looking eagerly forward to the future. But as time wares on, they begin to realize they're in a loop and their lives seem not to have the same meaning as before. Instead of looking forward to the future, they start looking back to the past and, though they may not realize it, this holds them back even more and can even make them feel worse. I'm sure you and Quill both feel it. I'm sure you both wish that the feeling of adventure and being completely ignorant would never have gone away or that it would come back."

"I wish I knew what it's like to grow up in this world. To be born a pokemon and to live as a pokemon. Before I looked to the past, but it seemed like my forgotten past must be my only future. Now I don't know what to believe. So much has happened and I still don't know anything. From what I've heard from the ones who knew me as a human, it doesn't seem like I want to know. It's as if I will always be a mystery whether I want to be or not."

Dragonite laughed after a while. "You and Quill are both a couple of characters, you know? He's jealous that you're so good at investigating even though you weren't born a pokemon, and you're jealous that he was born a pokemon and could care less if you're good at investigating or not. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the two of you haven't changed at all from the beginning. Maybe every second of our lives is the beginning. There can be no real end, surely. Our spirits will live on in the people we know and love and even in the people who hated us most of all. We are truly immortal and there shall never be an end! Whatever evil awaits won't stand a chance against something it can't defeat. Of course its spirit will live on also, but it is evil's goal, not our own, to try to erase the spirits of all others. That is why good will always win over evil. Why the past and future will always be dim compared to the light of today. Our spirits will live on as stars in the sky and we shall never die."

Aamira looked above at the beautiful star-lit sky. Dragonite's words were definitely unusual, and yet there seemed to be an unbelievable meaning to each and ever word that Dragonite spoke. Not knowing exactly why, Aamira threw her head back and started laughing uncontrollably. Following the laughter was a time of silence. The only other sound was the sound of the wind and of Dragonite's flapping wings. Aamira wished she had wings of her own, but was content with flying this way. She wouldn't ask for any more than this. Because whenever she gained something amazing, she ended up losing something that, until that point, seemed to have no real value. And then another feeling invaded on the pure happiness in her heart; a horrible sense of pity. What would happen to Hunter when he gained the power he was after? One could only imagine how miserable he would become…

A horrible sight was waiting for them upon their return. The trees were wilting. The leaves were falling off, even around Lake Harmony where the leaves have never fallen. The hospital had run out of room so Espeon and any of the other pokemon who weren't born in the forest and, therefore, weren't being effected, were treating pokemon who were laying in the streets.

No one questioned why Hunter was with them and why they didn't just take back the Root of Time from him. Not that any of the people who would have questioned why were still conscious.

"Celebi really is the guardian of the forest." Dragonite said.

"Then we can't waste any time!" Aamira led the way through the town, running at top speed. When they got to the hospital, Aamira got the pieces of the Root of Time. Hunter, though obviously reluctant, gave her the piece he stole.

"But wait." Aamira said. "If I use Aura Restore, won't I disappear like last time?"

"No. After saving the entire world with Aura Restore, this should be a simple matter." Celebi said.

The sight of Celebi was horrible. He was glowing slightly and starting to become transparent. If Aamira didn't do anything, he would die and so would everyone else including Quill. Aamira raised her hand to the fragments of the Root of Time and tried Aura Restore, but as hard as she concentrated, nothing happened.

"I don't understand. Why isn't it working?" She asked. "Hunter, can't you use Aura Restore?"

"It's the most difficult and dangerous technique for an Aura Reader to learn. Even if I did know how, no doubt I would end up disappearing before I would be able to fix it." He said.

So Hunter really didn't have any control over his aura. Aamira suddenly felt ashamed of herself for losing to him before. She shook the thought out of her head, trying to remind herself that there were more important matters at hand.

"Aamira…" Quill had woken up. He looked really pale and was shaking horribly. "Listen. Take me, Celebi, and the Root of Time to the school. There's no time to explain."

Aamira turned to Dragonite, wondering what was on Quill's mind. Without saying anything, Dragonite picked up Quill and Celebi. Aamira put the pieces to the Root of Time in her bag and followed him to the school. Hunter followed, obviously tired of being paraded around the town.

When they got to the school, Quill jumped out of Dragonite's arms, landed unsteadily on his feet and, in spite of the protests from Aamira and Dragonite, walked towards the desk in the back of the room where Espeon usually sat.

"There's a legend that this tree that the school is built into is actually intelligent. Celebi, it's true isn't it?" Quill asked.

Celebi nodded weakly. "Under the desk there's a passage to an underground shrine."

"You could have told us this before!" Aamira snapped at him.

Quill took the piccolo out from his bag and started playing the Voice of the Forest. The desk started glowing and disappeared. Underneath it was a staircase that led under the tree.

"Even guardians need guardians." Celebi said. "But it would be too confusing for a time traveling pokemon to constantly have to go back and fourth through time, meeting a different Aura Reader in every different time period. That's why a few hundred years ago, one of the Aura Readers combined his aura with the forest and became a tree sprout. As the years passed, this tree came to be as the result of time."

"I'd hate to interrupt the history lesson, but aren't you disappearing right before our eyes?" Hunter asked.

Celebi didn't reply. The five of them headed down the stairs. Quill refused to let anyone carry him, in spite of how dangerously he swayed every few steps.

Who would have guessed that there would be a whole dungeon under the school? They seemed more violent than the pokemon in normal dungeons. It seemed that they were being affected by the dying forest also. Dragonite was amazing in spite of not being in a dungeon for a few years and having to carry Celebi. His Fire Punch was especially useful against the grass type pokemon.

Finally they reached the end of the dungeon. There was a large stone slab with a picture of Celebi on it. Between the painting Celebi's hands was a large indent. It looked like the ones in Tempestas and Glacies that Aamira used Aura Sphere on to open the doors above. Quill played the Voice of the Forest again and the picture split down the middle and opened like a sliding double door.

The end of the dungeon looked like a plane empty room. At the end of the room was a large tree root, but that was it. Along the walls, like in the rest of the dungeon, the walls were being held up by smaller tree roots, though they didn't reach all the way to the floor.

"Where are we?" Aamira asked.

"A tree's roots go as far into the ground as the tree grows into the air. Considering how tall the tree is, we must be really far under the ground seeing as how we're at the base of its roots. That large root over there is what we call the root of roots. It's the first root that comes out of a seed and it's always the biggest." Celebi said.

"Again, we don't really need a history lesson." Hunter said.

Celebi sighs. "I am history. If you say you don't need history, then you don't need me, you do need me though, don't you Hunter?"

This time, Hunter didn't answer.

Quill walked up to the tree's root. He stood there for a second. "Hey Celebi, you didn't say that the Aura Reader back then was a Typhlosion."

Aamira wondered how he could have known this but, after looking closer at the root, she saw that the root was actually shaped like a Typhlosion near the base of the root. Aamira noticed it so suddenly that it actually made her jump.

"Wow, so for all I know this could actually be an ancestor of mine." Quill said. "So this must be why Espeon just happened to take the two of us here of all places. This Typhlosion must have been calling to us the whole time, but Espeon couldn't really hear it."

What Quill was saying didn't make sense at all. He was silent for another moment. Eventually he nodded. "I get it now. Thanks." He turned to Aamira. "Hey Aamira, do you see the indent between Typhlosion's hands?"

Aamira nodded.

"Put the center of the Root of Time and nothing else into that indent. I don't really get what it will do, but that's what Typhlosion said to do."

Tying to ignore her confusion, Aamira did so. A green light enveloped the center of the Root of Time. Was it possible? Even though the Typhlosion was turned into a tree, it was somehow using Aura Restore. A green orb of light came from the center of the Root of Time and hovered in the air. There was a flash of light and a Celebi appeared where the orb of light had been. It blinked and looked around.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"All's well. Finally…" the other Celebi said.

Aamira finally lost it. "WHAT IS GOING ON!"

"Well hiya!" The Celebi that came out of the Root of Time said. "I'm Celebi. Have we met before? Or, should I ask, have we met yet?"

Aamira and Quill laughed.

"But I don't get it." Dragonite said. "Celebi was released from the Root of Time, so why is this Celebi from the future still disappearing?"

Quill and Aamira turned around quickly. What he said was true. Celebi struggled to fly into the air. He fell a few feet towards the ground before steadying himself in the air. "It looks like this is it for me." Celebi said.

"But we did everything right, didn't we?" Quill said. "Why are you still disappearing?"

"Hunter's appearance was entirely because of me. I sent him through time and ended up reducing his age. It was because of this that he went looking for revenge. I ended up changing history and this is a horrible thing for a Celebi to do. Normally the effect is minor, but if a Celebi travels to the past and the change in history directly affects the Celebi from the present time, the Celebi from the future disappears, though it's not entirely known exactly what happens."

"So after all of this, you're still going to disappear?" Aamira asked.

Celebi nodded. "But this is the price I have to pay for nearly killing my present self. If I hadn't sent Hunter though time in the first place, I would have been able to unseal that Celebi without any problem. So it's entirely my fault." Celebi turned to Hunter. "I take this as my punishment. You're revenge has been fulfilled." With those last words, Celebi disappeared.

Hunter was staring at the ground. After a while he lifted his head. "Good riddance."

"I don't believe you!" Aamira said. "You practically kill Celebi and you can't even bother to show any emotion at all? You've never killed a legendary pokemon, you just challenge them to battles to prove your strength. Don't you feel the slightest bit guilty?"

Hunter stared directly at her. Those different colored eyes scared her to death, though she never wanted to admit it. "I'm not one of those pathetic fools who you can sway so easily with words. I'm not that weak. It's only the people who are weaker than you who have no other choice but to listen to you that are affected by you. But you wouldn't know that, would you? Because deep down you're just a spoiled little brat who gets whatever she wants!"

"That's not true!" Aamira shouted back.

"You complain about your life being so hard, I know you do. But let me tell you, your life in a lot easier than mine. That's something you never understood! Because in the end you always get what you want, don't you?"

Aamira ran towards Hunter and threw a punch at him. He easily dodged out of the way and tripped Aamira. He stared at her for a few seconds. "I knew all along there was no way of getting my power back. Because I met Celebi again before this."

"That's true…" Celebi said. "I remember that… But it was the future me you had a grudge with so you never raised your sword to me…"

Hunter nodded. He ran off without another word.

Aamira struggled to her feet, feeling a bit dizzy. She hadn't hit her head, but her thoughts were going by so quickly she couldn't make sense of them. It was as if there was something she should have realized. "Dragonite, do you remember what Hunter said earlier? He said he was able to go forward in time, but he never said he was able to get back to his time."

"Bingo!" Celebi said. "You see, Hunter got sent back a lot further in time than you think. It was then that I met him. He was so confused at the time and didn't even know that he had gone back in time. He attacked me before figuring out that I wasn't the same Celebi that sent him through time. Or, I guess I was the same Celebi, but I hadn't sent him through time yet. I said I could send him through time, but only partially. Sending him all the way back to his time would reduce his age so much that his age would go into the negatives so that it would be like he hadn't ever been born. He told me to send him though time far enough so that he still had his strength and wasn't too young so that he would be able to get revenge on the future Celebi just by waiting for when time would catch up. But you have to understand that this world is really an alien world to him. In fact, he's not even supposed to be born for a few years now. I think he's still as confused as ever, though he obviously knows you in the future. He seems to have a pretty big grudge against you."

Celebi looked at Dragonite, Quill, and Aamira, who were all staring at him with confused expressions.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did that go a little over your heads?" He laughed. "I'm sorry."

"I think I understand the gist of it." Quill said.

"Me too. I think…" Aamira said. "I don't know, something still feels off… It feels like we forgot about something…"

"We should go check on everyone in the town." Quill said. "Whatever it is, we'll figure it out later."

Everyone in the town was awake now, though they looked slightly confused. Quill and Aamira headed back to the Investigator's Brigade base to get some rest for the night.

Quill woke up when a beam of sunlight hit his face the next day. He looked over to the bed that Aamira had been sleeping in. She wasn't there. Already knowing where she probably was, Quill jumped out of bed and walked to the Temple of Time. Aamira was sitting in front of one of the walls reading the ancient text that looked only like random scribbled to Quill.

"I finally figured out what felt off." Aamira said.

"What is it?" Quill asked.

"Well, before I tell you, how did you like playing the hero for once?"

Quill blushed. "Dragonite told you, huh?"

Aamira nodded. "I had no idea how you felt. I guess all along I was taking you for granted and I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Quill said. "But to tell you the truth, it didn't really feel any different when I was playing the hero. Maybe there wasn't really anything for me to be jealous of."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"What is it?" Quill asked.

"I didn't hear the Voice of the Forest when I looked at the piccolo. And you knew how to get into both the temple and that dungeon under the school. And that's not it. Ruko said that you were being affected when the forest started dying because you were sensitive to aura, but I didn't feel a thing. I think that maybe… I might be losing my abilities as an Aura Reader."

Quill didn't reply for a while. He didn't want to say anything, but this also brought up the question of how exactly he had suddenly become so sensitive to aura to begin with.

"I see… So what is going on then?"

"I don't know…" Aamira dropped her gaze. Suddenly her eyes widened and she stood up.

"What is it?" Quill asked.

"This phrase right here…" Aamira put one of her paws on the wall. The phrase she had her paw on looked somewhat worn out and hard to decipher. "'Mem… Memory… Memory Obliteration?' Why would something like this catch my eye?"

But Aamira had to wonder. If there used to be an Aura Reader that acted as a guardian for all of the legendary pokemon, could this be another ability learned by an Aura Reader?

"What's wrong?" Quill asked, snapping Aamira out of her trance.

"Back when we first met I couldn't remember anything. I still can't."

"Yea, so?" Quill asked.

Aamira turned to Quill, her heart beating harder than usual. "I think I erased my own memory."


	18. Chapter 18 At a Few Hundred Years Ago

Quill was so bored. He didn't have anything to do, they were still on a forced vacation, and Aamira had been in the Temple of Time all day since she first read about Memory Obliteration. Reading further, she discovered it was in fact an ability learned by Aura Readers used to erase their own memories. Quill sighed and wondered why someone would want to erase their own memory. Aamira wondered that too, which was why she had been reading all day.

"Jeez, Lucario, was Aamira always like this?" Quill felt slightly embarrassed. Lucario couldn't answer. He couldn't even hear him for that matter. In fact, he wasn't anywhere nearby. He knew this of course; the vacation they were being forced to take was giving him a bad case of cabin fever.

Quill had been trying to decide on what to do. He had gone to the museum hundreds of times and it was starting to lose its appeal. Lake Harmony was always good, but there wasn't really anything there aside from the lake and a few flowers. The few friends he did have when he was in school were all Investigation Teams now and no doubt were off on some amazing adventure. What else was there? The library? But that was more of Aamira's thing… No doubt by this point she had learned more than him about Investigation Teams.

Not knowing what to do, Quill got out of bed and went on a walk around town. At the Keckleon shop he saw Aamira talking to the Keckleon sisters.

"Hey, I thought you were reading." Quill said.

"I was, but I got hungry so I came to get an apple out of storage. Then I decided to talk to the Keckleon sisters. Geez, I don't understand how a mute Banette and a talkative Keckleon can share the same name…" Aamira said.

Daisy laughed. "That little Banette was cute. I wonder where she ran off to when you disappeared."

Willow sneezed. "Nothing against your team, but why did Shroud Lake have to clear up when you cured the distortion of aura? Before anyone could go there if they had a cold and the fog would cure them immediately. Now that the fog's gone, I'm stuck with this cold!"

"Unintentional consequences?" Aamira said, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Of course, I'd expect you to understand that a cold is a meager price to pay for the life of everyone in the world. If it wasn't for the aura distortion being stopped, you wouldn't be alive to get that cold."

"I'd take it. This cold is horrible!" Willow sneezed again.

"Are you going to go back to reading?" Quill asked Aamira.

"I guess so. It's going to take me forever without any help. Alakazam and Noctowl can read that language, but they're both out of town right now. They left this morning."

"Oh…" Quill was so bored. He understood that Aamira really needed to find out more about how she might have lost her memory and why she would want to erase her own memory, but that didn't help how bored he was.

After Aamira headed back to the temple, Quill decided to go to Lake Harmony anyway. Though he shouldn't have been surprised to find Celebi there, he screamed and fell on his back when Celebi suddenly shot out of the lake water.

Celebi laughed. "You can be so funny sometimes. Or maybe being back here has brought back some of your awkwardness from when you first started your team?"

"I-I guess so…" Quill stammered.

"Hey, can you swim by any chance?" Celebi asked.

Quill wondered why he would ask such a weird question. "No, I can't."

"Well that's too bad. There's something shiny at the bottom of the lake and I'm having trouble pulling it out…" Celebi dove back into the lake.

Struck by a sudden curiosity, Quill looked down at the bottom of the lake from the side. It was a lot deeper than he was ever able to tell when a bunch of fog used to surround it. He saw Celebi swimming towards the bottom. He had a sudden urge to just jump in after him, but decided better since he would have drowned. On the other hand, when Aamira accidentally knocked him into the water once, he was so frantic that he was somehow able to swim back to shore. He decided that he didn't want to risk it though.

Celebi stopped somewhere along the bottom of the lake. It was obvious that he had found something, but Quill couldn't tell what from the edge of the lake. It was too far down and distorted by the water.

Celebi seemed to be pulling at it with all of his might. Finally it seemed to come loose. He swam back to the surface of the lake and flew over to Quill.

"So what was it?" Quill asked.

"A box! A treasure box!"

Celebi sat the box down in front of him. Quill opened it and found a feather inside. It was really pretty and seemed to shine all different colors. "What is it?" he asked.

"Well, if I'm right it's called a…" Celebi didn't finish his sentence. Right when he was about to, the feather started glowing. The glow got so bright that it caused Quill to pass out.

Quill woke up a while later. Celebi was still there and looking a bit concerned. Quill looked around. They weren't at Lake Harmony anymore. Instead there was a mountain range. The cliff that they were on was high above the other mountains and seemed to have a mysterious glow about it when the sun hit it. In every direction Quill looked, he saw mountains and water. They seemed to be on an island of some sort.

"Hey Celebi, where are we?" Quill asked.

"I think we're at a few hundred years ago…" Celebi said. "Just a guess, considering this island was destroyed a few hundred years ago…"

"You're kidding!" Quill said. "We went into the past?"

"It should be okay since I followed you after you were sent here. You shouldn't age or anything after getting back to the future." Celebi reassured him. "Oh, but look at this mountain! This is Mount Prism! It's been ages since I've been here."

"Mount Prism?" Quill asked. "Well, whatever! You have to take me back!"

"Right!" Celebi closed his eyes. He seemed to be concentrating really hard. "This is weird, I can't go through time."

"What do you mean you can't!" Quill asked.

"Don't worry; the person who lives at the top of this mountain might be able to help us."

Quill sighed and followed Celebi. Celebi, at least, seemed to be enjoying himself. Time travel was technically something he did on a daily basis. Quill, on the other hand, was starting to freak out. What if he couldn't get back?

When they got near the top of the mountain, Celebi stopped him. The top of the mountain had obviously been flattened. A few people were up there talking about something important, by the sound of it. Quill recognized Celebi's voice.

"Oh, I don't believe it!" Celebi said. "This is the conference I was at all those years ago when we were talking about the pokemon who was attacking legendary pokemon." He turned to Quill. "Now listen, we can't tell them anything about the time we come from. If we do, we might horribly change history."

Quill nodded. The two of them climbed up into the mountain's peak. In front of them were a colorful bird pokemon, a silver dragon pokemon, and a few he already knew as Articuno, Zapdos, Raikou, and Suicune. By process or elimination, he guessed that the other bird and canine pokemon were Moltres and Entei. There was also a Celebi there and a Latias and Latios. Quill figured that the ones he didn't know must have been legendaries also.

"Hiya, everyone!" Celebi said to them. A group of Riolu and Lucario suddenly appeared, but stopped their attack when they noticed it was just Celebi.

"I'm never going to get used to this time travel thing…" One of the younger Riolu said.

"Hiya, me!" The Celebi from the past flew towards them. He turned to Quill. "Hiya, you!" he then proceeded to give them the usual greeting. "I'm Celebi. Have we met before? Or, should I ask, have we met yet?"

Quill laughed nervously, still not sure whether this was a rhetorical question or not…

Celebi from the past turned to the group of pokemon. "Well, what are you waiting for! Introduce yourselves!"

There was a flurry of conversation as they all hurried to introduce themselves to Quill. They were all apparently really fond of time travelers. Luckily for Quill, Ho-oh and Lugia were the only names he really needed to remember. He couldn't believe that this colorful bird was actually Ho-oh. He thought he had seen Ho-oh once, but it was at a distance so he didn't really know for sure.

After that was over, they started to explain how they had ended up in this time, though they were as vague as possible to prevent from changing the future. The feather, as it turned out, was actually one of Ho-oh's.

"So, in conclusion, not only to we have to worry about this pokemon who's going around hunting down legendary pokemon, we also have to find a way to get our friends here back to the future." Ho-oh said.

"Where's Team Unity when you really need them?" Lugia asked.

"From what I've heard they've split up to warn three of the other legendary pokemon about this attacker." Articuno said. "Valor went to Underwater Trench to warn Kyogre, Acuity went to Lava Boundary to warn Groudon, and Verity flew to Celestial Tower to warn Rayquaza. But there are still quite a few of our number who are missing."

"Hey, speaking of which, wasn't Heatran supposed to be here too?" Raikou asked.

They looked around, but Heatran was apparently nowhere to be seen.

'I wish Aamira was here.' Quill thought. 'She's better with legendary pokemon type stuff than me…'

"We can't go to the island to find Heatran." Moltres said. "One of us might get attacked if we go. But we can't just ignore this either…"

"He wants to go." Celebi pointed at Quill.

"What!" Quill asked desperately. "We need to get back to our time."

"There are plenty of items from different times that end up in the wrong time periods." Ho-oh said. "That feather you found must have transported you here because you were needed. Once you finish what you're supposed to do here, you should be sent back to the future."

"Is that so?" Quill asked. "Well then what other choice do I have? But how would I get to where Heatran lives?"

"I'll teleport you there." Celebi said. "But as Moltres says, it would be too dangerous for me to go, so you'll be on your own."

Head spinning from confusion, Quill nodded.

"And remember, no one can know anything about the future! Avoid telling anyone you're from a different time except for Heatran when you find him." Celebi teleported him.

A few minutes later Quill found himself on a tropical island. In the distance he saw two volcanoes. There was no mistaking where he was; this was Lava Lava Island. This was where he should have grown up if Mismagius hadn't shown up and forced his family to move.

Quill looked around for a while, wondering where everyone was. After a while he found the village where the Cyndaquil lived. It still surprised him to see how small they were.

"Stranger!" One of the Cyndaquil shouted. In only a few seconds Quill was surrounded by the mini Cyndaquil. At first he was worried, but then he noticed that they all looked a lot weaker than him. He flared up the fire on his back and all of the Cyndaquil stepped back.

"What is going on here!" A Typhlosion holding a dangerously sharp looking spear walked towards them. The mini Cyndaquil made a path for him to walk through. "A Cyndaquil from the mainland. So you must be the one who's causing all of this ruckus!"

"Ruckus?" Quill asked. "No, I just…" He remembered just in time that he wasn't allowed to say anything about the future he came from, so he decided to partially tell the truth. "I just ended up really far away from home. I've been trying to get back and somehow I ended up here."

"You expect us to believe that!" Typhlosion asked. "Master Heatran has been in a bad way for weeks now! Are you saying this isn't because of you?"

"It isn't! I actually came here to find Heatran because I figured if I did I would be able to get back home." Quill said. "But if something's wrong, I could help!"

Typhlosion stared at him for a long time. He smirked. "I've been planning to go up to the volcano for a while now. If what you say is true, then you won't mind accompanying me, would you?"

"Not at all." Quill said.

The smile faded from Typhlosion's face. This obviously wasn't the response he was expecting.

Quill waited for a while for Typhlosion to get ready. He couldn't believe how old all of the stuff was in this world. All Typhlosion had with him were a few berries. He didn't have any Calcium or Max Elixirs or even a hold item like Quill's Joy Ribbon. This world was definitely different from the one that Quill was from. He was glad at least that he wasn't entirely alone. As long as he didn't say anything about being from the future, everything should turn out alright.

They had been walking through the forest for a while before Typhlosion talked to him again. Quill was grateful that he did; the awkward silence was too much. "You're obviously not from anywhere around here, are you? I've been to the mainland a few times and I've never seen anyone wearing a ridiculous looking bow like that or carrying a bag like yours."

"I'm not from this region at all. My best guess is that where I'm from is somewhere really far across the sea." Quill said.

"So what, you just mysteriously ended up in this region? You just woke up one day and you were here?"

"That's actually not far from what really happened…" It wasn't, was it? Quill didn't like lying, but half truths weren't so bad.

"So what is all of that stuff you have with you? It looks a bit like Investigation Team equipment, but like I've said it doesn't look like any I've seen before."

"Yea, this area is nothing like where I come from. Everything around here seems like it's from a long time ago compared to where I'm from." Quill was secretly enjoying this.

"So how did you end up here exactly?" Typhlosion finally was starting to believe his story, at least. Quill was starting to feel guilty for lying like this. It was even worse since the person he was lying to believed every word he said.

"I don't remember much of what happened. I was attacked by someone, but I'm not sure why. I can't even remember what the people who attacked me looked like. All I know is that I was on vacation with my sister, who's also in my Investigation Team, and after I got attacked I ended up here somehow…"

"Must be pretty devastating. Well, however you ended up here, you don't seem like a bad pokemon at least. If Heatran can't help you, I'll try to find a way to get you home."

Quill smiled. 'I doubt you can,' he thought, 'but thanks for the offer.'

It got dark faster than they had expected. They set up camp a bit away from the volcano, thinking it was a bad idea to be out really late while something strange was going on. Quill was too scared to sleep though. He was afraid he might start talking in his sleep and let something slip about where he was from.

"You seem a bit quiet." Typhlosion said. "Do you feel okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine. I just… I wonder how everyone at home is feeling. I've been away for a while now. Sometimes I wonder if they would even miss me if I suddenly disappeared."

"I'm sure they would. You shouldn't ever think that way."

Quill knew they would. After all, Aamira had just told him the previous day, or about a few hundred years from now, that she wouldn't take him for granted. Quill hated lying like this, but what other choice did he have? He had to make his story sound as believable as possible, right?

They headed up the volcano the next day. The heat around the rim of the volcano felt really nice to Quill, whereas most other pokemon would be struggling to breathe from the heat.

"The entrance to Heatran's temple is hidden inside the volcano. I would be really surprised if anyone was able to get down here besides a fire type."

Quill followed Typhlosion into the volcano. The heat felt so good and made Quill so happy. He somewhat resented himself for growing up in a forest. The lava did make it a little hard to see though because of the heat waves that came from it. The ground started shaking. Quill nearly fell into the lava, but Typhlosion grabbed him in time.

"It's been doing that a lot lately." Typhlosion said. "I'm surprised there hasn't been an earthquake at all on our journey until now. Something's definitely wrong here."

Near the bottom of the volcano, they found a door. On either side was a torch. Typhlosion used Flamethrower on both of the torches and the door opened. It was a lot cooler inside and strangely misty. It felt like a rainforest somehow. Quill was somewhat glad to be away from the lava. The sound of the boiling lava was deafening, which he never would have guessed.

At the far end of the passage was a room with lava seeping through the walls. Near the back of the room were two pokemon. One of them, who was laying on the ground badly injured, Quill guessed was Heatran. The other one, by the looks of it, was a Swampert.

"What do you think you're doing!" Typhlosion shouted at Swampert.

The Swampert turned to face Typhlosion. "No one must know the truth. Once Heatran's memory is modified, no one will know!"

"Know what?" Typhlosion asked.

"That doesn't concern you!" Swampert said.

Going out on a limb, Quill shouted at Swampert. "You mean that legend don't you? The legend that's being erased from the memories of all the legendary pokemon."

"You know it?" Swampert asked. "I don't know how you found out about that, but you can understand that I can't let the two of you leave here alive."

"Way to go, kid." Typhlosion said to Quill.

"What are you so scared of? We'll just fight him!" Quill said.

"Good luck, kid." Swampert used Water Gun. Quill dodged it and used Flame Wheel. Swampert grabbed Quill right before his attack hit. He smiled triumphantly for only a minute before Quill used Flamethrower. While Swampert was down, Quill followed up with another Flame Wheel.

Swampert used Mud Slap, which got mixed with some of the lava in the room and ended up doing more damage. But Quill realized that the attack still wasn't all that strong. Maybe Swampert was weakened from battling Heatran. Quill used Flame Wheel, but instead of hitting Swampert, he rolled behind him and used tackle from behind. Swampert fell on his stomach.

Quill stood there panting. It had been a while since he was in a good battle like that. Most of the pokemon in the dungeons he had to fight weren't this strong. He was just lucky that Swampert was already so tired.

"You really think you've won?" Swampert stood back up, though he was obviously really weak. "Just wait. This won't be the last time we meet." Swampert started glowing and disappeared.

"How is that even possible? Swampert can't use teleport, can they?" Quill asked.

"They shouldn't be able to, but that was definitely teleport." Typhlosion said. "That was pretty impressive, kid. I have to admit, I was still a bit suspicious of you, but you've really proven yourself. Maybe it's possible that Swampert was the reason you ended up here."

"Maybe." Ho-oh did say that he ended up here because he was needed, but was he really supposed to come here to fight Swampert?

Heatran struggled to his feet and faced Quill. "I've been waiting for you. I knew that someone from somewhere else would come here when I needed help. The Guardian of Lava Lava Island."

"Guardian." Typhlosion said. "You mean me, don't you? I'm the Guardian."

"This Cyndaquil is also a Guardian. But not from this time." Heatran said.

"What do you mean not from—?" Typhlosion turned towards Quill. "When you said this region felt like it was hundreds of years in the past…?"

"I guess my secret's out. Celebi told me not to tell anyone about the future because it might change history." Quill said. "You understand, right?"

Typhlosion nodded, though he looked a bit unsure. "But if you really are a Guardian, that would make you my descendant."

Quill laughed. He didn't know what all of this Guardian talk was about, but it would make sense that Typhlosion was his great grandfather. Quill knew all along, but still thought it would be best not to say anything.

"So since I saved you, does that mean your memory wasn't modified?" Quill asked Heatran. "So you must know the legend, right? My friend and I have been looking all over for it but haven't been able to find it. Any records have apparently been erased and the legendary pokemon who knew it all had their memories modified."

"So that's what will happen in the future." Heatran said. "I suspected just as much. You were sent to this time because you were needed here. Since you were able to keep my memory from being tampered with, this must be the way things were meant to go. You don't need to worry about changing history; everything is the way it should be. And you won't need to worry about your age decreasing when you go back to your time since you came here by special means."

"So what about the legend?" Quill asked.

"This isn't the right time." Heatran said. "Look for me again in your time and I will tell you everything I know about it. Until then…" Heatran turned away from Quill and faced towards a rock of solidified magma. "I will seal myself into the Lava Stone to prevent anyone from attacking me before you come looking for me. I will also make it so that you're the only one who will be able to free me."

Heatran started glowing in synch with the Lava Stone and disappeared inside of it. It reminded Quill of how Lucario and Mismagius had been sealed in the Aura Scepter.

"So what happens now?" Typhlosion asked. "How do you get back to your world?"

"I don't know." Even as Quill spoke, he started to glow faintly. "I guess I just go back now."

"I wish I knew what the future will be like in a few hundred years. But I suppose it's not my place to know."

"Oh, you won't tell anyone about this, will you?" Quill asked.

"Who would believe me?" Typhlosion asked.

Quill vanished. Typhlosion wondered if this was all some weird dream. In fact, the next morning he would wake up thinking it had been a dream. But this was something Quill would never know.

Quill looked around. He was back at Lake Harmony. He looked at his reflection in the water. He seemed the same age as before. He sighed from relief.

"Well, hiya!"

Quill was so startled that he fell into the water. He scrambled around a bit before finding the edge of the lake and pulling himself back up. "Don't do that!" he snapped at Celebi. "I've had a rough couple of days…"

"What are you talking about? You've only been gone for five minutes." Celebi started laughing.

Quill glared at him, unable to believe what he was hearing. After all he had gone through, he felt like he was going to have a nervous breakdown. Meanwhile no one besides Celebi had even realized he had disappeared.

"Well look on the bright side!" Celebi said.

"I guess you're right. Soon we'll know what that legend is at least." Quill said.

"No, that's not it. Since you spent a day in the past, that means your birthday is a day earlier now." Celebi laughed.

Quill just wanted to go to bed. His age technically didn't age at all, but… 'I hate time travel…'


	19. Chapter 19 Sylvan Conspiracy

Aamira couldn't believe what Quill told her about going to the past. Normally that would be something to stay on her mind for a long time. But later that day, while heading back to the base from the Temple of Time (reading the writing on the wall was a complete waste of time as it turned out) Aamira noticed Quill talking with Alakazam and Noctowl. Wondering what they were talking about, Aamira headed over to talk to them. But right when she asked what was going on, they all apparently had something important they had to do.

It was strange the way they had been talking so calmly in whispered voices one minute and all had to rush off the next. It made no sense at all.

After that, whenever she would pass by someone on the street, they would hurry away, stare at her, or talk to some friends who were close by. It was so weird. It was starting to make Aamira paranoid.

She saw Ruko talking with Espeon. They, at least, didn't act like they were hiding anything. Aamira was about to ask them what was going on when she heard what they were talking about.

"I just don't understand why they would ask Quill to do something like this…" Espeon was saying.

"He's not some little kid anymore, you have to remember. His recent accomplishments prove that." Ruko replied.

"But couldn't they have sent someone a little more experience on a mission like this? How did everyone find out anyway? I thought it was supposed to be top secret." Espeon said.

"It was, but you know how it is. Quill, Noctowl, and Alakazam were the only ones who knew about this. So naturally, the whole town knows. No one's told Aamira though, thank goodness. I'd hate to worry her by telling her that her younger brother was sent on a dangerous solo mission."

Aamira's heart skipped a beat. So everyone was avoiding her so she wouldn't worry about Quill? On one hand it was touching, on the other… THOSE JERKS! THEY PUT QUILL IN DANGER AND DIDN'T TELL HER A THING!

"Do you think it's true?" Espeon asked. "It's really someone from Vine City who's behind all of this? That would be the easiest way for someone to leak information, and it would make sense for them to send Quill since he's a fire type and most of the city is inhabited by grass types."

Ruko leaned forward on his cane. "I really don't know. It doesn't make sense, does it? Even if it would be easier for someone from Vine City to get that information, no one was supposed to know about it except for Alakazam and Noctowl."

"Well, it's like you said. They were the only ones who knew about it, so naturally the whole town would know."

Aamira knew that Quill could take care of himself, but she couldn't keep herself from worrying. She went to the library and tried to lose herself in some more books, but for once it didn't work. Leafeon asked why she was acting so down, but Aamira didn't answer. At least Leafeon didn't seem to know what was going on.

Aamira sighed and walked outside. It was noon by this point. She saw a Buizel and Floatzel running by. She recognized them as the one who brought packages to Daisy and Willow. Back when her and Quill first started their team, they had to make the delivery because the river had been poisoned and the two of them weren't able to swim in it. They seemed to be carrying a lot of boxes. Daisy and Willow must have ordered a lot of new stuff for their store.

Feeling bored and still trying to distract herself, she decided to go to their store to see what new items they were getting. On her way there, she noticed some pokemon over by the help center where job missions were posted on the bulletin board. In fact, it looked like a lot of the pokemon who lived in the immediate area were over there. Aamira wondered what all of the excitement was about.

Aamira walked over and noticed Noctowl craning his neck over the other pokemon to get a better view of what they were all looking at.

"I think there's something you need to see." Noctowl said.

The crowd parted almost immediately when they noticed Aamira. Noctowl walked towards the bulletin board and took of a note. He handed it to Aamira.

It was a ransom note.

Aamira read it to herself. 'If any of you in Vine City want to see your friend Quill ever again, Aamira must come to Dead End Cave. She must leave all of her Investigation Team items behind, including the Collection Bag, anything in it, and her Aura Glass. Failure to comply with these terms will result in Quill's death.'

"Aamira—" Noctowl started to say. Aamira interrupted him.

"I know. He went on some dangerous mission and no one told me a thing. But look, you can't stop me from going. I'd do anything to save him."

"I know you would…" Noctowl said. "Just… Be careful… A while back our city started an anti bounty hunter program. Our objective was to stop the bounty hunters from kidnapping other pokemon. What we didn't know is that there's a bounty hunter in this city who's been giving his allies information about the program. We sent Quill to Dead End Cave to investigate this, but apparently he's been captured."

Aamira nodded. 'Why would they have sent him to a place named Dead End Cave? It's not like the name sounded dangerous or anything!' Aamira tried to contain her temper so she would have enough energy to help Quill.

"Is she gone?"

"Yes. How sweet. She went to rescue her little brother. She even followed the conditions of the message we wrote."

"It's kind of sad, what has to happen. I'm sure it will still be a fun time though."

"That Quill can be such a hothead sometimes. What was he thinking? Of course, it doesn't matter now. Soon Aamira will be right where we want her. Then with her out of the way, we can start preparations here in the city."

"Won't she be surprised when she comes back? I have a feeling no one's going to forget about this one for a long time…"

It had already been two hours. Aamira never noticed how much stronger the weight of her bag made her feel and she never noticed how much she depended on items. She was lucky at least to find a few berries laying around every now and then. The pokemon in the dungeon were kind of strange. They seemed tough, but not too tough. So what would the people at the end of the dungeon be like? This felt like Team Night all over again. Aamira just wished that Quill were here… Of course if he was there would be no reason for her to be doing this.

A Sneasel attacked from her left. Aamira dodged and used force palm. Did these bounty hunters think the pokemon in a dungeon like this would be able to defeat her? Especially when her temper was rising with every floor she progressed into the dungeon. Eventually she was going through the dungeon at a run.

When she sensed someone up ahead she stopped dead in her tracks. "No, it couldn't be him…" But Aamira remembered what Ruko had said. 'Even if it would be easier for someone from Vine City to get that information, no one was supposed to know about it except for Alakazam and Noctowl.'

Aamira ran up to the top floor of the dungeon. "Alakazam, you traitor!"

"Aamira! Help!" Quill was in the back of the room locked in a cage.

"You're here already? You were a bit faster to get here than any of us expected. No matter." Alakazam waved one of the spoons he carried through the air like a sword. A blast of psychic energy headed towards Aamira. Psycho Cut. She was just barely able to dodge. She knew that Alakazam was probably a lot stronger than her. Her being at a type disadvantage didn't help at all either.

At least Aamira had one dark type attack. Aamira used Payback. Alakazam used Teleport to dodge. Alakazam put both of his spoons together and a Psybeam came from the spot where they touched. Aamira knew she couldn't dodge it, so she braced herself for the attack. It wasn't too often that she had to fight a psychic type pokemon. She didn't remember their attacks hurting this much.

Aamira swayed on her feet. She looked towards Alakazam. But which one was she supposed to attack? She saw four of them. Was she confused? Alakazam was a lot stronger than Aamira thought. She attacked each of the Alakazam with an Aura Sphere. Strange thing about confusion; it's easy to forget which targets have already been hit so Aamira had no choice but to just attack them all at random.

Alakazam used Psybeam again. Luckily this was easier to see coming so Aamira was able to jump out of the way. Aamira used Aura Sphere again. Alakazam dodged and appeared behind her. He used Psycho Cut, hitting her in the back.

Aamira fell on the ground. Compared to the dungeon pokemon, Alakazam was a lot stronger. Alakazam teleported again and appeared in front of her.

"Is that all? It's hard to believe someone like you was able to save the world." He said.

Aamira hated when people said this. It's not like she did it alone. No matter were she went, people only gave credit to one member of the team. Usually either Quill or Aamira, sometimes Lucario, though not as much since everyone thought he was dead.

Aamira stood up and used Payback. This time she was able to land a hit. Not only that but, in her haste she had forgotten about this, since she had taken damage her attack was stronger than normal. Alakazam didn't seem to be as badly injured as he should have been, unfortunately.

How long did their battle last? Hours? It felt like days. At times it felt as if Alakazam was holding back. He was obviously getting tired of fighting. He prepared another Psybeam to finish Aamira off. Just as he was about to attack, a beeping sound came from his bag. He pulled out a pocket watch, similar to the one Aamira had seen Noctowl use on a few occasions. He smirked and put the watch back into his bag. "Too bad we couldn't enjoy our battle for just a little longer; I was starting to enjoy this. Unfortunately, there's somewhere I need to be right now."

Aamira struggled to stand up again. She ran towards him readying a Drain Punch. But all she came in contact with was air; Alakazam had teleported out of the dungeon just in time.

At first, she was mad. Then she was glad that he just didn't take Quill with him. "Are you alright?" She asked Quill.

"Yea, I'm fine." Quill said. "This cage is weird. I can't use any attacks from in here. Maybe an attack from the outside would work though."

Aamira nodded and used the bone on the back of one of her hands to hit one of the bars. It bent dangerously but didn't break. She hit it again, this time with a bit more success. It was lucky that Quill was so small; she only needed to knock out one of the bars for him to be able to escape.

"I uh…" Quill was obviously embarrassed by being captured like this. "Thanks…"

"I'm just glad your safe. But what were you thinking heading out on a mission like this by yourself?"

"I'm not some little kid, you know?" Quill said. "If it was anyone else but Alakazam, I wouldn't have had any trouble. You couldn't defeat him alone, right? Or was I watching some different battle?"

Aamira sighed. "Point taken… Let's just go home…"

Quill fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Aamira asked.

"Yea… I haven't eaten since this morning though…" Quill said. "Do you think we could look for some food on the way back?" He looked up at her with a foolish looking grin.

Aamira laughed. "Not some little kid, eh?" Aamira's stomach growled. She blushed and Quill started laughing.

"You're not much better!" he said.

"Alright, alright, point taken…" Aamira said. "We'll look for some food on the way back."

They found a few apples and stopped for a while to eat. When Aamira was about to eat her third apple, Quill stopped her.

"Don't you know it's not good to eat so much after a fight like the one you were just in?" he asked. "It could make you throw up or something."

"You're joking, right?" Aamira asked. "You never mentioned anything like that before."

"Well you never really ate a lot right after missions. And we usually see a doctor after losing a battle at the least before eating."

"That's true…" Aamira said, staring longingly at the third apple. "I guess I still have a lot to learn still."

"I'd hate to eat if you can't." Quill said.

"Don't worry about it. You're not as badly hurt as me, right? You might as well eat if you're really hungry. You collapsed from hunger not too long ago…" 

"I guess but… I guess it just feels impolite or something…"

Something really seemed to be wrong here. "Are you feeling alright, Quill?"

"Huh? Yea, I'm fine. Why would you think I'm not feeling alright?"

"You're acting a little strange…"

Quill shook his head. "It's nothing! Really!"

"Okay, if you're sure…" Aamira stood up. She knew he was lying, but she couldn't force him to tell her what was on his mind. "We might as well head back home."

"Wait…" Quill said.

Aamira turned back to him.

Quill didn't say anything for a while. "You really feel like you need to protect me…?"

How was Aamira supposed to answer a question like this? It explained why Quill was acting so awkward, but still… "Friends help each other out, right? I'm sure you feel like you need to protect me too, don't you?"

Quill looked at the ground. "Not really… I just have a feeling that you're a lot stronger than me, no matter what…"

"Really?" How could Aamira fix something like that? It was getting late. The sun had gone down a while ago. Aamira really wanted to get back. Knowing that the bounty hunters that Alakazam were working for could be anywhere was unnerving. "How about this? After a bit more training and a few more missions, we'll have a battle against each other. That way we'll know for sure who's stronger."

"You'd just let me win…" Quill said gloomily. "I wouldn't want to win that way just so I would feel better…"

"What would the point of that be?" Aamira asked. "If I just let you win, we wouldn't know for sure. Truthfully, I want to know just as much as you do. Maybe after this, neither of us will really feel left out. We're equal members of Team Sleuth, right? So shouldn't we feel like equal members?"

Quill looked like he was about to protest. He stopped himself and thought for a second. "Okay. That sounds like a lot of fun. But don't think I'm not going to train until I'm on the verge of fainting until we battle!"

"Don't think I won't be training my tail off too!" Aamira said with a triumphant smile. "Our battle will be the battle of the century!"

Quill laughed. "It sure will! We should sell tickets!"

The both of them laughed for a while.

"We should get going. The longer we stay in one place the more danger we'll be in." Quill walked in front of Aamira and took the lead. Aamira stopped him when she thought of something.

"You remember when we were captured by the bounty hunters the first time?" Aamira asked.

"Of course I do." Quill pointed to the metal collar around Aamira's neck which no one was able to get off. "You got that from them so I couldn't forget."

"They tried to make us fight each other… If we had we could have been over with this already."

Quill laughed. "That's true…"

The two of them started heading back to Vine City, both in far better moods than they were in before they decided to have a battle. It was strange. Usually fighting tore friends apart. Then again, no one ever accused Aamira and Quill of not being strange.

They arrived at Vine City about an hour later. Something didn't seem right. No one was around. The wind blew. A chill ran up Aamira's spine. Everything seemed more quiet and darker than usual.

"So you're finally here!" Alakazam appeared in front of them.

"You again!" Quill said. "You think I wouldn't want to get back at you for capturing me!"

"Preparations are almost complete. We need only wait a little longer…" Alakazam said.

"Preparations? For what?" Aamira asked.

"It's a surprise…" Alakazam smirked evilly. "But I think you'll enjoy it most of all, Aamira."

"What's that supposed do mean?" Aamira snapped at him. Alakazam didn't answer. He just kept that smirk on his face. 'He's stalling!' Aamira realized.

Aamira ran towards him, ready to attack with Payback. Just then his pocket watch started beeping again. He blocked her attack easily with one of his hands. Aamira jumped back. Alakazam pulled out his pocket watch again and smirked. "Midnight! The day has finally arrived!"

There was a sudden burst of sound, light, and colors. Everything happened so fast that Aamira had no idea what was going. A bunch of pokemon appeared from various hiding places.

"SURPRISE!" they all shouted in unison.

Aamira's heart was pounding wildly. There were colored lights hanging everywhere. Everyone was wearing colorful pointy hats. People were there who shouldn't have been there; Charmeleon, Typhlosion, Weavile, both members of Team Sky, and even Team Rapids.

Quill started laughing uncontrollably. "Your expression is exactly like how I imagined it! It's almost like I can feel your emotions again!"

"W-What's going on!"

"It's a party! A party!" Ambipom did a few back flips. "For you Aamira!"

"Yup! And it was all Quill's idea!" Celebi said.

"What?" Aamira turned to Quill.

Quill laughed. "Stalling you was harder than I thought it would be. Yup. I came up with that whole scheme of faking my own kidnapping. And of course Alakazam took a few acting lessons when he was younger."

"Everything was based off of code words." Alakazam said. "Like 'capturing me'. That was a code Quill was supposed to use to ask if everything was ready. So of course when he asked, 'You think I wouldn't want to get back at you for capturing me' I responded by saying, 'Preparations are almost complete. We need only wait a little longer'. It was genius, I must say." He glared at Quill. "Why didn't you do anything productive like this while in school!"

Quill laughed nervously.

"But I don't really understand why you all did this." Aamira said.

"It's simple." Celebi said. "Dragonite thought it would only be fair that, since he told you Quill's secret, that he would tell Quill yours. Quill couldn't believe you would be jealous of something like not being born a pokemon. When I told him that going back in time for a whole day technically made his birthday a year earlier, he realized that since you lost your memory no one really knew when your birthday was. So he went to see Noctowl and asked what the exact date was that you appeared at Shroud Lake. As it turns out, it was the next day. So Quill, Noctowl, and Alakazam got together and devised this whole plan to get you away from the city for the rest of the day so that everyone could plan and the party would be ready by midnight. Daisy and Willow ordered materials for the party and Espeon used Teleport to bring some party guests here."

"Since this is the day you first showed up, it's only right that it would be considered your birthday!" Espeon said. "So happy birthday, even though none of us even really know how old you would be!"

"And let me say, keeping an Aura Reader oblivious about something is HARD!" Quill said. "That was the whole reason for the multiple stories and the code words… But don't think this gets you out of our battle!"

"And you two came?" Aamira asked Team Rapids.

Crawdaunt turned away. "We came for the cake. That's all."

Aamira smirked.

"I ran into Hunter while looking for everyone." Espeon said. "He actually gave me something to give you for your birthday…"

"You're kidding, right? What is it?" Aamira asked.

Espeon picked up a black rose that was laying on the ground. "This… Not really appropriate for a birthday…"

Aamira's eye twitched. Hunter really hated her!

The party was great. It lasted all night. Aamira was exhausted by morning, but that didn't stop anyone. It had been a while since any of them had time to relax like this. Their vacation turned out alright after all.

"If you don't mind, I have something I want to give you." Ruko said to Aamira. He handed her something that seemed too familiar.

"My music box!" Aamira opened the top and listened to the music. It was definitely the same. Ruko walked away while she was listening to it. 'But how did he get this? The last time I saw it was when we were in Atra…'

Somewhere far away, unknown to anyone, Aamira and Quill were being watched. "That's right, Aamira. Keep living in your world of happiness. Meanwhile behind your all seeing eyes, everything will fall apart…"

"Is it time yet, master?" Honchkrow asked.

"Nearly. Once every thousand years, a shooting star appears in the sky… We need that star… It would not know the legend since the last time it woke up was before it was written, but we still need its power…"


	20. Chapter 20 The Injured Murkrow

"Among legends, the legend of Jirachi is arguably one of the most curious of all. It is said that thousands of years ago when a shooting star passed our planet, it was carrying Jirachi as a passenger. Jirachi made his home on the star and lived in isolation from every other pokemon in the universe. Though people are skeptical as to why Jirachi chose to live alone, it's believed that the star emanated some sort of energy that allowed Jirachi to live.

"When the star was hit by a smaller asteroid, a piece broke off of it. It was said that at the time Jirachi had been sleeping on the piece of the star and fell along with it to our planet. Jirachi learned as much as he could about the new world he lived in for the first week he was there, but after that time the star passed and, as some people say, without its light he was forced into a deep sleep.

"A thousand years later the star would pass again. It was at this time that the famous explorer Acuity found the Star Piece, the part of the star that Jirachi was said to have fallen from earth from, and unsealed him from its depths by using the light of the comet, which at this point was passing the planet once again. To show his gratitude, Jirachi told Acuity to look at the shooting star and make a wish and Jirachi would make it come true.

"Acuity knew that Jirachi would be able to wake up as long as the comet was in the sky, and he knew that Jirachi liked this world and didn't want to go back to living on the comet. So to help Jirachi see the world, instead of using the wish for himself he wished that every thousand years when the comet passed by, the star's light would automatically wake Jirachi from his hibernation. Jirachi asked Acuity to wish for something for himself because Jirachi wanted to show his gratitude, but Acuity refused and stuck with his original wish to help Jirachi. Jirachi was more grateful than ever and when he granted Acuity's wish, he also added that he would grant the wish to a friend he made every time he woke up. It's said that lots of people have had their wishes come true since then, but none were as unselfish as Acuity's.

"What a strange story." Aamira closed the book and looked up at the sky. Lake Harmony was as beautiful as ever. There wasn't a cloud in the sky either. "So that star will really be passing by soon? What would I wish for if I met Jirachi?"

"Hey, Aamira!" Quill came running towards her. "You know it's almost time to go. Our vacation is over."

Aamira didn't answer right away. "You know, I resented being forced to take a vacation, but… Now I just can't get motivated. I don't want to leave. This feels more like home than Pacis does…"

"I know. But on the bright side when that star passes by we'll be able to see it better from Pacis."

Aamira nodded. "True. True… But, I don't know. That feeling of nostalgia hasn't gone away yet. I wouldn't want to leave until it does. I mean we don't really know what we're doing. It would be nice if we could just stick around until we found some more answers." Aamira put her book on top of the pile of books to her right. The stack of books she had read that morning was getting pretty high. She reached to her left for another book, but felt only grass. She looked over to find that the book about Jirachi she had just finished had been the last book in the pile. "Uh oh…"

"What is it?" Quill asked.

Again, she didn't answer for a while. "I'm… I'm out of books…"

"Then just go to the library and…" Quill realized why the tone in her voice sounded so empty. "I didn't think it was possible… Did you really read all of those books in the library!"

Silence again. Then Aamira spoke, sounding slightly embarrassed. "Do… Do you think Pacis has a library?"

Quill started laughing and fell onto his back. Aamira sat there, feeling a little foolish for a while, and eventually joined in on the laughter too.

"We better get going." Quill said after the laughter died down.

Aamira got up and followed after him after gathering up all of the library books.

"It looks like we're ready to go." Quill looked around. "Wait, where's Ruko?"

"I haven't seen him since this morning." Aamira reached into her bag and felt for the music box he had given her. "I'm sure he'll catch up. We're supposed to be back by sunset, remember?"

Quill nodded and the two of them headed out. It would have been easier if they just got someone to fly or teleport them there, but what was the fun in that?

Aamira yawned. They had been walking for so long. It was too quiet compared to the city. It was almost eerie, but mostly boring. They had been out of the forest for a while now. The grass was getting taller as they walked and it was getting harder to see. That was the only problem with going to Pacis.

Quill stopped and turned around.

"What is it?" Aamira asked.

Quill looked around. "I thought I heard something…"

"I don't sense anyone…" Aamira said.

"I guess I just imagined it…" Quill turned back around and kept walking. Aamira followed after him. They walked for a while longer before Quill said something again. "It seriously sounds like someone's following us."

Aamira whispered to him in a voice low enough that anyone that was following them wouldn't be able to hear them. "Then used Flamethrower in the direction of the noise."

"Right…" Quill turned around and used Flamethrower. The grass in his line of fire burned away. There was a squeal from the grass and a Murkrow came flying out. It flew around trying to put out the fire on its wing and fell to the ground in front of them.

The Murkrow shook its head. When he noticed them, he stood up and backed away. "Don't hurt me! I was ordered to keep an eye on you, I swear! I wanted no part of this!"

"Woa, calm down. We won't hurt you." Aamira said.

"Yea, right…" Murkrow flexed his burnt wing.

"Don't you think we should do something about that?" Quill asked. Aamira turned and noticed that the grass was still on fire.

"What was I thinking?" Aamira asked. "Oh, I got an idea." She pulled a Rainy Orb out of her bag. The sky got cloudy and a downpour started. Quill yelled and hid under the tall grass. The rain stopped as suddenly as it started.

Quill came out of hiding and shook his fur dry. "I hate getting wet…"

"Now then…" Aamira turned back to Murkrow. "Mind telling us why we can't sense your aura?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's the thing master Honchkrow told me to carry?" Murkrow opened his beak as wide as he could, revealing a small shiny white stone that he had been hiding.

"Isn't that the stone we saw around Steelix's neck?" Aamira asked.

"It looks the same." Quill said. "Hey Murkrow, mind if we see it?"

Murkrow closed his beak and started shaking his head. "No! No! I could get in trouble just for talking to the two of you!"

"Look, we're trying to be nice!" Aamira said.

The Murkrow yelped and tried to fly off, but fell again because of his burn wing. He laid on the ground, cringing in pain. "I hate you…!"

"Calm down, will you?" Quill said. "We should probably take him with us to get that wing looked at."

Aamira nodded.

Murkrow tried to run off multiple times, but it wasn't too hard to catch him with his wing damaged. They half dragged him all the way to the Investigator's Brigade HQ. When they showed up leading a Murkrow, everyone looked at them surprised.

"You captured one of the Murkrow?" Electivire said. "Nice work you two!"

Murkrow whimpered and closed his eyes.

"I don't think he really knows what's going on. He acts like such a coward." Aamira said. "But he's got one of those stones in his mouth."

"Oh, really?" Electivire touched the ends of his tails together and his hands started sparking.

Murkrow yelled and hid behind Aamira. "Alright! Alright! You can have it!" Murkrow opened his beak, took out the stone, and gave it to Electivire. "Just don't hurt me…"

"I feel kinda sorry for the little guy…" Aamira said. "Can someone do something about his wing?"

"I'm on it." A Blissey appeared and took Murkrow to the medical wing.

Glameow walked up to them. "I know that guy! He stole my valuable necklace! Okay, so I stole it to begin with, but still! You can't trust him."

"He doesn't seem too bad." Aamira noticed Machop walking by. "Actually, I think he's kind of cute." She said in a louder than normal voice. Machop looked over in her direction. He obviously didn't know who they were talking about, but he ran off looking devastated anyway.

"You can be really mean sometimes, you know?" Quill asked.

"After you left he fell in love with me…" Glameow said. "I had no idea you had it so hard. Most of your team members are freaks… That means you too, mouse."

The fire on Quill's back flared up.

"Okay, I think we're all just a little tired and irritable." Aamira said. "Why don't we all get some rest for now?"

Glameow turned and walked away. She had that "I'm better than you" expression on her face that Aamira couldn't stand.

"You actually stopped a fight from breaking out?" Quill asked. "Are you alright?"

"I guess that vacation we took was more relaxing than we thought." Aamira headed up to her room. Quill watched her leave, feeling a bit confused.

"Aamira seems to be acting a little differently." Charmeleon said a while later at dinner. Aamira wanted to go to bed early so she hadn't had anything to eat. "She seems to be in a good mood at least; I guess that's all that really matters."

"It's a bit creepy…" Quill said. "Normally she would be snapping at any person who was a claw out of line. She seemed happy while doing it to. The way things around here seem to have gotten a little boring…"

"Something wrong? Aamira seems cheerful but you seem kinda down."

Quill didn't answer right away. "Aamira's thinking about something. She's not the sort just to become all soft hearted like this. Whatever it is must be really bothering her. That's why she's putting on this cheerful act."

Charmeleon laughed. "If anyone can tell she's acting, it's you. Let's not forget I was the first to fall for one of her acts. Seems like forever ago when I think about it. It will have been a year ago tomorrow."

"When she starts thinking and starts acting to keep other people from worrying, it just makes me worry more…"

Aamira was laying in her hammock listening to the Kricketot and Kricketune outside. She looked at her music box one more time. Where was Ruko? And how did he get a hold of this? It was definitely hers. It was old and somewhat worn out and on the inside was a faded painting of a flower. She hadn't really paid that much attention to it until now. This music box must have been really beautiful at some point.

A chill crept down Aamira's spine. She looked around her. There was no scenery at all. She was suddenly standing up, even though she couldn't even remember standing up.

"Is that all you've got, you old hag?" Aamira turned around and saw Lucario and Mismagius, who had apparently been fighting. Lucario was wincing in pain and holding his right arm. He looked pretty badly hurt. Mismagius was panting, but seemed to be more stressed and aggravated than hurt or even tired. In spite of his injuries, Lucario had a big smile on his face.

"What is it that keeps you going like this!" Mismagius snapped. "Why don't you just show the smallest bit of fear or sadness?"

"I've still got a bit of motivation, that's why." Lucario said. "What do you have?"

Mismagius used Shadow Ball and knocked Lucario onto his back. "I've still got you to fight with. That's all I need."

After Mismagius disappeared, Aamira ran over and knelt down by Lucario. "Lucario, are you alright?"

"You believe it's really me now?" Lucario asked. "Did you really just decide that in the few minutes you've been gone?"

"Few minutes? I haven't seen you in a few days."

"Days?" Lucario sat up and flinched from the pain. "There's no way I could have been fighting with Mismagius for that long…"

"You've been fighting her all this time? No wonder you're all beat up like this."

Lucario laughed and stood up. "It's no big deal. She said she was going to make my life miserable; she's just keeping her promise. Probably one of the only times she's told the truth."

Aamira couldn't keep from smiling. "You seem to enjoy getting beat up like this."

"Not at all. The pain is twice as worse as in real life and it's impossible to die here. But Mismagius's expressions are a bit amusing. All she wants now is to make me suffer, but the more I pretend not to be, the more infuriated and hysterical she becomes." He laughed. "It's actually a bit pathetic. It's hard to believe this is the same Mismagius we fought not so long ago."

Aamira's smile faded and she frowned. "You know in a way you're all she has to look forward to. I can't imagine what it would be like to be trapped in here for hundreds of years completely alone. I think in a way she might be glad you're here, but her desire for revenge is getting in the way."

"You think so?"

"Pretend to be miserable every once in a while at least. Then maybe she wouldn't feel so lonely."

Lucario stared at her and his smile faded. "I guess there's really no way to keep my promise, is there? Seeing as how I'm stuck in here."

"It's alright. I guess I just liked being in the pokemon world so much that I was disappointed that I couldn't really be a part of it."

"Is that so?"

"Yea, but Quill helped. And Dragonite who told Quill my secret. I really like being a pokemon, I don't wonder about my life as a human as much anymore, but I didn't like not being born a pokemon. And since it was exactly a year ago when I appeared in this world, Quill came up with this ridiculous plan where he staged his own kidnapping just to get me away from the city long enough for everyone else to get a birthday party ready."

Lucario laughed. "Well then, happy birthday. I'm sorry I couldn't get you a present, but obviously…"

Aamira laughed. "I suppose you don't really have much to talk about, being alone here all the time. I don't want to feel like I'm doing all the talking."

"I don't mind at all. You're my only link to the outside world. I wouldn't mind knowing what's going on out there."

Aamira explained to him about nearly everything that had happened since the last time they talked, including how they had met Hunter. Though she left out the part when she found out she was a Dark Reader. She didn't want to worry Lucario too much.

Lucario nodded. "I've heard of Hunter. Really serious guy who doesn't want anything to do with anyone who isn't a legendary pokemon."

"Yea, that's him. We've become… pretty good friends, if you want to call it that."

Lucario laughed.

"He sent me a black rose as a birthday present."

"He seems nicer than a lot of people say. He basically just told you to die. Most people he wouldn't give the choice. I've met him once. He started going on and on about me being 'one sided' though he never explained what it meant. He didn't seem to like me nearly as much as he likes you though."

Aamira laughed. "Lucky me. Just to annoy him I kept the rose though. Like how you kept smiling when Mismagius was attacking you."

The two of them were so happy and laughing so much in spite of the casual tone of their conversation. Aamira was back in her hammock again a few minutes later. She was in the middle of telling him about Murkrow when she just suddenly ended up back there again.

She sighed and opened her music box and eventually fell asleep.

"Aamira."

Aamira turned over on her hammock. Oh, what she would give for five minutes more of sleep.

"Aamira, get up! That Murkrow ran off!"

"What?" Aamira sat up and looked over at Quill. "Are you serious? Wasn't anyone keeping an eye on him?"

"Blissey fell asleep…" Quill said.

"Well whatever…" Aamira laid back down and looked out the window.

"Whatever? Do you not care?"

"Why should I? If Honchkrow told him to watch us, then there's probably going to be more Murkrow following us too. We'll just catch one of them."

"You don't get it. Honchkrow might consider that Murkrow a traitor. If he does that then what would happen to Murkrow?"

Aamira woke up fully for the first time that morning. She jumped to her feet. "I hadn't thought of that. Let's go!"

Murkrow hadn't gotten far obviously. Not far from the outside of the city, they saw a bunch of Murkrow attacking the Murkrow they had caught.

Aamira used Aura Sphere and the Murkrow scattered. They noticed Aamira and Quill and flew into the air. When they tried attacking, Quill used Flamethrower. The Murkrow cawed and scattered again. This time instead of trying to attack again, they all flew off, leaving their former comrade behind.

Aamira ran up to the Murkrow. "Hey, are you alright?"

The Murkrow tried to get up, but collapsed again and started shaking. "I'm sorry I ran. Please don't hurt me!"

"We're not going to hurt you. It looks like we got here just in time." Quill said. "You should come back with us. You're pretty badly hurt and those Murkrow might come after you again."

Murkrow started shaking more violently than he had been before. "Do you know what it's like being a Murkrow? Honchkrow are smooth talkers. They know exactly what to say to get us Murkrow all wound up. We can't help it, really! Murkrow must listen to Honchkrow. It's the way we are. But this Murkrow doesn't want to listen to Honchkrow. This Murkrow doesn't like Honchkrow's ideas. But anyone who doesn't listen to Honchkrow must be eliminated."

"Well we don't exactly like Honchkrow either." Aamira said.

"If I evolved, I would be like Honchkrow." Murkrow said. "I could convince Murkrow not help Honchkrow. But I can't evolve. Honchkrow prevents it so no Murkrow can't go against him. But…" Murkrow started shaking even harder than before. "We must come when called or else. I was always so slow. This isn't the first time I've been this badly hurt by my own kind…"

"When I get my paws on that Honchkrow…" Aamira was shaking with anger, eager for another chance to fight Honchkrow.

"You can come with us." Quill said. "No Murkrow or Honchkrow is going to hurt you as long as you stick with us."

"So you would keep Murkrow prisoner?" Murkrow struggled to his feet.

"No, that's not it." Quill said. "I'm just saying if you ran off again you might get attacked again."

"You control people like Honchkrow. He scares everyone saying people think we're bad luck and that people don't like us. Because of this Murkrow don't do anything unless Honchkrow tells us to. How is what you're doing any different?"

Aamira crossed her arms. "You're pretty smart for some scatter brained Murkrow. You can come with us. Or not. I really don't care which. Our team has too many members as it is."

"You weren't really considering letting a Murkrow join our team, were you?" Quill asked.

Aamira shrugged. "I thought having a Murkrow on our side would be useful. But what would the point be in having one like this on our team? He obviously can't decide what he wants." Aamira started walking away. "So we'll just leave him here for the other Murkrow until he makes up his mind."

"H-Hang on!" Murkrow stammered. "Why can't I ever just do what I want? Whatever I do, I always end up working for someone else."

"You don't have to work for someone else." Quill said. "You can do whatever you want. Keep in mind that if you decide to go back to being a villain that we would probably have to track you down, but you can do anything you want to. Hey! Maybe you can join our team for now just to get used to being away from Honchkrow. And while you're with us we'll protect you from them and you can learn to be an Investigator. Then you can make your own team."

"My own team…?" Murkrow looked up at the sky. "That might not be so bad. And seeing as how he's so interested in the two of you, maybe I'd have the chance to fight him at some point?"

"Maybe." Aamira had stopped walking away some time ago. She turned to face Murkrow. "So are you interested or not?"

Murkrow just stood there looking at the sky. "I guess… What do I have to lose at this point?"


	21. Chapter 21 Hide and Seek

Electivire sat in the conference room alone. He sighed, trying to prepare himself mentally for the day to come. He was getting one of those feelings again. It was one of those feelings a person gets when they just know that something's about to go wrong. Electivire propped his head up on his arm, trying to keep himself awake. He hated that horrible feeling more than anything. Even before, when Mismagius wasn't around, he had acted as the leader. At this point he was so used to his job that whenever he had this feeling, he was usually right.

"Electivire!" One of the Delibird came flying through the window. "We've just received an important message."

"What is it?" Electivire asked.

Delibird took a message out of his bag and handed it to Electivire. Electivire read though it a few times to make sure he wasn't misunderstanding anything. "So he's back? This is just one of those days… Who's available?"

"Team Overgrow, Team Sandstone, and Team Sleuth."

Electivire sighed. "Is that all?"

"Unfortunately." Delibird said. "Things have gotten really busy lately. But Team Overgrow has been prized for its expertise in tracking down criminals. And both Team Sleuth and Team Sandstone have members who were either actors or past criminals."

"Alright, get the tree of them up here as fast as you can." Electivire said.

"Are you serious!" Aamira said, failing in her attempt to hide her disappointment.

Charmeleon crossed his arms. "Afraid so. There are a lot of weird things going on around Ignis lately, so Dad decided to move the tournament to early spring. It's going to start the day after our spring festival. Just as well, most people would prefer to only go to Ignis once a year. It's pretty isolated, you know? But no one can resist the spring festival, even though spring hasn't come in years in Ignis, and missing this tournament is out of the question."

"I was really looking forward to this…" Quill said. "Anyway, aren't you supposed to leave for some ultra important mission today?"

Charmeleon sighed. "Unfortunately. It's in Aequor too, can you believe it? Not that I can even step foot in their underground city; I just have to wait on a nearby island for when they eventually decide to show up. But it was a mission requested by my dad, so I really shouldn't complain. He wants me to go to Aequor as an ambassador to discuss the strange things that have been going on lately. You know what we're like in Ignis; if anything goes wrong it's because of Aequor. They meddle a lot in our affairs, sure, but I don't see what the point would be for us to blame them for everything. Although they suggest that weird things have been going on there also, which I must admit is a little suspicious."

"You… The two of you have friends all over, don't you…?" Murkrow asked nervously.

"Huh? Yea, I guess we do." Aamira said with a smile.

Charmeleon looked at Murkrow suspiciously.

"Come on, Charmeleon." Quill said. "Murkrow's part of our team now. Give him a break."

"Well after nearly being poisoned it's a bit hard for me to trust anyone around here, you understand? Plus if Honchkrow's been telling his little lackeys to follow people, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a Murkrow."

"You wouldn't know who it is, would you?" Quill asked Murkrow.

"It wasn't…" Murkrow froze up for a moment. "I… I'm sorry. I just can't…"

"It's alright, we get it." Aamira said. "You're still too scared of Honchkrow. To tell you the truth, he terrifies me sometimes so I understand how you feel."

"Really?" Murkrow seemed to find this hard to believe.

Charmeleon sighed and started walking towards the door. "Well, I'd better get going. Typhlosion's probably waiting for me." Charmeleon left, leaving the members of Team Sleuth behind with nothing to do.

Luckily for them, their boredom didn't last long. The next moment, an extremely out of breath Delibird came flying towards them. He was about to fall to the ground, he was so tired.

"Team Sleuth!" He said through his raspy breathing. "Electivire wants you in the conference room right away!"

Aamira and Quill looked at each other.

"Looks like we have a new mission!" Aamira said.

"You're coming with us, right Murkrow?" Quill asked.

"I… I suppose so…" Murkrow said timidly.

They weren't the only ones there when they got to the conference room. Team Sandstone and Team Overgrow were there also, along with Electivire, who was looking very agitated.

"I've called these three teams here for a reason of the utmost importance." he said. "That sneaky thief that calls himself the Black Claw has appeared again."

Everyone looked around and started murmuring to each other, except for Aamira who has no idea who it was.

"For those of you who don't know who the Black Claw is," Electivire saved Aamira the embracement of asking, "he is a notorious criminal that has stolen many precious artifacts of this world. No one was able to stop him, even with the clues that he purposely left behind. Years ago he sent a challenge letter to our friends of Team Overgrow here to fight him inside of the Stony Ridge dungeon. When they got there, they found all the treasure that he had stolen and a note saying that he would be back in a few years to start over again. He wanted a challenge, no doubt in that, so he must have waited until he thought more worthy teams had shown up."

"Hey, Murkrow." Sceptile said. Murkrow jumped in surprise. "You're a criminal, aren't you? Would you know anything about this guy?" 

Murkrow shook his head. "Some criminals love bragging about the things they do. Others prefer to keep their home and work life separate, so to speak."

"That makes sense." Venusaur said. "Well it was worth a shot to ask."

"Hang on, I know a bit about him." Glameow came walking through the door. "Hello, Murkrow. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Murkrow flinched back.

"Just tell us what you know." Electivire said.

"Apparently he was an old member of the gang. You know, Honchkrow's team. No one really knew who he was though. Apparently Honchkrow was always mad at him because the Black Claw never really did what he was supposed to. This might surprise you, but Honchkrow can't stand the idea of stealing. At least not stealing any more than he needs to. Which is a bit strange considering he thinks kidnapping is alright."

Aamira was sitting with her head down on the table, obviously bored out of her mind. "Makes sense to me." Everyone looked at her curiously. "Steal a person, at least they have a chance to fight back. Steal an object and it's pretty much yours from the second you pick it up. Even criminals like Honchkrow have to have some moral value, right?"

"I suppose that makes sense." Glameow said. "Anyway, a while back Honchkrow started to lose his patience. He gave the Black Claw a chance to return all the stuff that he stole before taking him to a secret prison somewhere."

"Could it have been Mismagius's dungeon?" Quill asked.

"I don't think so." Glameow said. "He's constantly sneaking off somewhere. He's been sneaking off to who knows where, both before Mismagius was defeated and after. There's no doubt in my mind that it's the same place, but only his favorite little servants get to go with him. Right, Murkrow?"

Murkrow jumped in surprise and started shaking his head vigorously. "I know nothing! I swear I don't know!"

Quill sighed. "Just relax. And Glameow, you have to stop scaring him like that."

"Oh fine…" Glameow said, sounding obviously disappointed. "So anyway, I have no idea who the Black Claw is or why Honchkrow let him go. If I'm right, it must mean that Honchkrow is planning something big. He might be using the Black Claw as a distraction for something."

"This increase in mission requests lately isn't enough?" Electivire said. "Or maybe it has something to do with it. Everyone but the three teams here had to leave on important missions today. It can only be assumed that this is part of their plan. What are the odds that this would be a coincidence?"

"Oh, one more thing. And this I know for a fact." Glameow said. "In spite of his codename, Black Claw, he never uses his claws. From what I've heard of him, he's actually more of a white collar."

"White collar?" Quill asked.

"She means a con artist." Aamira said. Everyone looked at her in surprise. "Oh come on! It's not me! He disappeared a long time before I even showed up!"

Everyone laughed.

"We have no idea what to expect from you." Sceptile said. "So are you an expert on this sort of thing?"

"I don't know, let's find out." Aamira sat up. "You said he left clues, right? He must be pretty skilled then. What we need to do is see more than he wants us to."

"What do you mean?" Roy asked.

"If he leaves clues behind, then he would only tell the ones looking for him what he wants them to know. He would never tell them too much so he could avoid being caught, but he would tell them enough to at least get some amusement out of watching them struggle. It's this perfect amount of clues that have no doubt caused his fame, or infamy in this case. On top of that, the obvious clues he leaves behind would be enough to distract from any small mistakes he may have made to leave behind unintended evidence."

"So what you're saying is that we need to find more clues than he wants us to find." Roy said. "I bed Sandshrew and I could do that. He has really good senses you know."

"Yea, no problem for us." Sandshrew said.

"Now hang on." Electivire said. "I called all three teams here so you could all work together on this. You might be able to succeed where other teams have failed working alone."

"Right." They all said at the same time.

"So where do we go from here?" Sandshrew asked.

"A better question would be, where is the Black Claw going." 

"Exactly." Electivire laid the note he had received a while before on the table. "To follow his usual pattern, he has given his clue in a riddle. 'It may seem as though time has stopped, at least it does for me. Soon enough, once again, I'll have treasure as far as the eye can see. My dear friends, I've missed you so, I've waited each day for this. To return to my former glory, which I truly miss. First matter of business, tonight at midnight, I will strike while the iron is hot. Try as you might to capture me, I will never be caught by you lot.' And in the note 'lot' is italicized, meaning that's probably the clue."

"There are so many different definitions of 'lot' that might apply to this." Sceptile said. "A portion of something, a piece of land, part of a city, or a collected amount of things or people."

"Maybe that's it." Venusaur said. "Where would a lot of people be gathering?"

"Have you heard that the pokeringer competition is coming to town?" Electivire said. "The prize for first place is a huge trophy made of solid gold. And at the top is a ring-shaped diamond."

"That's enough to catch anyone's eye. I mean, if you're into that sort of thing." Glameow said. "Too flashy sounding for my liking, but that's exactly the sort of thing the Black Claw would like."

"The trophy is being held in the warehouse over in the west side of town. Breaking in there would be no easy matter."

"So how do we stop him from taking it?" Sandshrew asked.

"What if someone were to steal it before he could…?" Aamira looked around the table at the other pokemon.

"Are you kidding?" Venusaur said. "You want us to break in and steal it ourselves?"

"It could be what he wants us to do." Sceptile said.

"I think that he would think anyone would panic upon hearing that he had returned, so he would wait for them to try to move the trophy before making his move. Then maybe pretend to be the person supposed to transport it somewhere and run off with the trophy before anyone knows what happened. If we took it, we would know who to trust, right? We wouldn't be fooled by something like that."

"That's true…" Roy said. "But stealing? I don't know if I could do that."

"Well to make it seem convincing to the Black Claw, we can't tell anyone about it. Which means this would have to be a real robbery." Quill said. "Which means we need to be really careful. We'll need a guard with good senses, which means you two would probably be best. Murkrow could fly above to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. Then the rest of us can go inside to actually steal the trophy."

Electivire sighed. "This worries me deeply. If you wanted to become criminals, we would have to watch our backs around you."

They all laughed.

"I could probably do some digging around to find a map of the warehouse." Glameow said.

"The best time to do this would probably be half an hour before midnight, since the Black Claw said he would strike around midnight." Venusaur said.

"I don't like this, Roy." Sandshew said.

"It's alright." Roy said. "We just have to stand guard. And after we catch this thief we'll give the trophy back. Right?"

"Of course." Aamira said. "We're not going to turn into real criminals because of this."

After figuring out what each person was going to do, the teams disbanded for the rest of the day to get ready. On their way back to their room, Murkrow stopped Quill and Aamira.

"What is it?" Quill asked.

"I have to warn you about something." he said. "It has nothing to do with the Black Claw, but it's really important. There's someone here. He's a traitor. He's been passing information about the two of you on to Honchkrow. And he's the one who attempted to poison Charmeleon. Although that's not entirely what happened."

"What do you mean?" Aamira asked.

Honchkrow shook his head vigorously. "I can't say! I won't say anymore than that! If you two are so great then you should be able to figure it out, right?"

"Alright." Quill said. "We'll figure it out on our own. There are a few teams here that hate us, or hated us at one point anyway. I wouldn't put it past any of them to do something like this."

Aamira nodded.

That night they all gathered a small distance away from the warehouse. Lucky for them, no one was around that night. Apparently not many people came near the warehouse at night.

"There are rumors that ghosts appear around here at night." Venusaur said.

Aamira laughed. "You don't actually believe that, do you? Ghost type pokemon, maybe, but ghosts? Like dead people? It's absurd."

"Believe whatever you want to believe, we've seen ghosts before." Sceptile said.

Glameow picked the lock with one of her claws. Roy and Sandshrew stood guard outside along with Murkrow who was circling above them. The members of Team Sleuth and Team overgrow proceeded inside the warehouse. Aamira didn't sense anyone nearby, so they figured it would be okay for them to talk.

"I haven't seen Meganium in a while." Aamira said to Sceptile.

"She went abroad. Apparently there's a desert across the ocean she's always wanted to visit. After being trapped in a world of darkness for so long, of course she would want to travel a bit."

"Ah, I see." Aamira thought again about Lucario, but realized she couldn't start thinking about him at a time like this. "So what is pokeringer anyway?"

"It's a sport for flying type pokemon." Quill said. "It's getting pretty popular lately too. Teams of three flying pokemon each compete against other teams. Each takes a turn to battle against a member of the opposing team while trying to fly into the air and grab a ring from a balloon. After they get the ring, they need to put it on a wooden stake to get a point for their team. Whoever wins two out of three matches, meaning one for each team member, wins the game. But even if a team is down by two, they play through the last match to see who wins in the last match. In that way it seems like it's all about having fun and trying your best, even though these competitions can get a little dangerous sometimes."

Aamira distinctly remembered hearing a story about when Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres got into a fight. Their fight destroyed a whole half of a mountain range and created Pacis, the plane country. It didn't surprise her that the competition could get a bit violent.

"I hear the favorite to win the tournament is Team Yellowjacket. Combee, Vespiquen, and Beedrill. Amazing that bug types would get so far in a sport consisting entirely of flying types." Venusaur said.

"They beat Team Seadrop last week!" Quill said. "They were the favorites to win beforehand. But the team leader, Gyarados, is huge! I still can't believe they lost to Team Yellowjacket."

"Yea." Venusaur said. "Well that's the thing with poison sting, right? I can't believe that at first people weren't even sure whether Team Yellowjacket should be allowed to compete. They've done so well so far. So what's the next match?"

"Team Yellowjacket versus Team Flamewing, the dragon pokemon team." Sceptile said. "They're going to have some trouble with this one."

"Aye, for sure." Venusaur said. "Charizard, Salamence, and Flygon are no pushovers, that's for sure. Oh but what an upset! No bird pokemon are going to the finals!"

Sceptile nodded.

To Aamira, it seemed a bit strange listening to people talk about sports. She had never thought about it much, but there must be lots of sports in this world. She tried not to laugh when she thought about what would happen if the first person she met after getting amnesia wanted to play a sport instead of form an Investigation Team. Where would she be now if that had happened?

'I'd be dead along with everyone else.' She reminded herself. 'It's a good thing I met Quill.'

They found a safe at the bottom of the warehouse. Using her large ears and experience as a past criminal, Glameow was able to crack it easily. They all gasped. The trophy was a lot bigger than they expected. At the top was a ring made of diamonds that was obviously supposed to be shaped like the ring used in the competition.

Aamira walked up to it. "This thing is as tall as me. I would think they would make it a bit smaller for the convenience of the winners." She tried picking it up, but quickly gave up. "This is going to be tough…"

The sound of frantic cawing came from behind them. Murkrow came flying in, breathing heavily. "Someone's here! They attacked Sandshrew and Roy."

"What? Are they okay!" Quill asked.

"Sandshrew's pretty badly hurt and Roy's out cold.

"Murkrow, stay here with us." Sceptile said. "Aamira, Quill, and Glameow, you three go to try to find him and help Roy and Sandshrew if you can."

"Right." The three of them ran off towards the entrance.

"This is strange." Aamira said. "I don't sense anyone."

"He might be using one of those stones to hide his aura." Quill said.

They searched the warehouse as best as they could before agreeing that they weren't going to find him in there. They ran outside and found Sandshrew and Roy laying on the ground. Both of them looked pretty badly hurt, but Sandshrew had managed to keep from fainting.

"What happened?" Aamira asked. "Did you see who did this?"

"Uhm…"

"Oh, sorry." Aamira said, remembering that Sandshrew was blind.

"I heard them attack. They attacked Roy first and knocked him out. I heard him coming for me, so I fought back, but I wasn't really a match against him. I heard him run inside of the warehouse."

"We didn't see anyone." Quill said.

"What if he got past us?" Glameow asked. "He might have found the vault."

"I'll stay here and help Sandshrew and Roy with their injuries." Quill said. "You two go back to find the others."

Aamira and Glameow ran back to the vault as quickly as possible. Their hearts were pounding, admittedly with more excitement than exhaustion. When they got there, both members of Team Overgrow were out cold and Murkrow was just barely hanging on to consciousness. The trophy was gone.

"Murkrow, did you see who did this?" Glameow asked.

"No." Murkrow said weakly. "Whoever it was, they were too fast. He attacked us and took the trophy. I was too dazed to see anything!" Before they could ask him anything else, Murkrow passed out.

A while later, Sandshrew, Roy, and Quill joined up with the others. After Quill helped to treat the wounds on Venusaur, Sceptile, and Murkrow, they all sat and talked about what might have happened.

"We didn't see anyone come in." Aamira said. "And we didn't see anyone go out, which might have been possible if they weren't lugging a giant trophy. It's possible they are using one of those stones, but I think that it would be too risky for them to try to sneak out while lugging such a heavy trophy."

"So what do you think happened?" Venusaur asked.

"Well if it were me, I would hide the trophy and sneak out and wait until word got around about the theft. Then I'd return to the scene and take the trophy while no one's looking. Obviously anyone would start the investigation with the vault, so it would be the perfect time to sneak away with the trophy."

"But where would they have hidden it?" Quill asked.

Sceptile laughed. "You're going about this based on that mystery book, aren't you?" he asked Aamira. "About the bank that was robbed and all the coins that were stolen?"

Aamira nodded. "It was one of the last books I read during our vacation. They found the coins in a trashcan close to the vault. The detective in the story was watching some kids play hide and seek one day and he noticed the strategy of the one kid that could never be found. The kid would look for the most obvious hiding place, then pass it up and hide in the second most obvious place. The seeker would look in the most obvious hiding place, and then walk right past the second most obvious hiding place where the kid was hiding. That's how they figured out that the coins had to be hidden somewhere near the vault in a place that would be easily overlooked."

They all walked out of the vault. The police had arrived by now and had been informed by Electivire about what had happened. They had searched all over and hadn't been able to find the trophy or the Black Claw anywhere.

Aamira noticed a few crates stacked on top of one another that were pretty close to the vault. Venusaur lifted off the crate on the top.

"I bet it's in the middle crate." Aamira said. "Anyone might suspect that it would be in either the top or bottom crate because that would be either the easiest or least expected place."

"I bet you're right." Sceptile said.

Venusaur used his vines again to open the middle crate and pulled out the missing trophy. The police started cheering for the three teams that had solved the mystery.

"Hide and seek, huh?" Quill asked Aamira.

Aamira sighed. "Yep. It seems that inspiration comes in all forms."

"But wait, who took the trophy in the first place?" a Breloom on the police force asked.

"That's right, we're still not done here." Roy said. "None of us saw who it was, even the ones who were attacked."

"I think I've figured it out." Aamira said. "Who was there when the members of Team Sandstone and the members of Team Overgrow were attacked? Truthfully I didn't want to believe it, but the evidence is overwhelming."

"Well there was Murkrow, but it couldn't have been him." Roy said. "He was attacked too."

Aamira started pacing, a bad habit of hers whenever she was thinking really hard. "Remember a few hours ago, while we were at the meeting about the Black Claw. We were sure that someone would want the trophy to be moved somewhere else and whoever the Black Claw was would try to be one of the pokemon to move it so he could steal it. This way he would blend in with anyone else and the trophy would disappear without a trace. Well what if the same thing happened in this case? What if it was someone we trusted enough to think he wouldn't be the one to take it?"

"You can't be serious!" Murkrow said. "This is all circumstantial evidence!"

"Murkrow are most active at night, isn't that right?" Venusaur asked. "So naturally you would have pretty good eyesight. From the height you were flying at it would have been easy for you to tell who it was, no matter how fast they were moving."

Aamira climbed into the crate and pulled out a smashed black-blue feather. "This feather was obviously crushed under the trophy. If that's true, that means the feather must have fallen in before the trophy was placed in the crate. The only way that would have happened would be if you were the one who put it in the crate."

Quill took out the Aura Glass and looked at the trophy. "The only prints on here are from when Aamira tried and failed to lift up the trophy and Murkrow's talon marks on the ring at the top of the trophy."

Murkrow bowed his head and started chuckling to himself. "So the big boss was right after all. There's no getting anything past the two of you."

Something swooped down from the top of a tall shelf. It flew towards the trophy, apparently breaking part of it off because of the metallic clang that followed. The figure landed some ways away behind the trophy. Standing there was Honchkrow with the diamond ring in his beak.

He took the ring out of his beak and held it up with his wing. "What do you think? I used to be a champion pokeringer, you know? I almost miss those days.

Murkrow flew over and landed in front of Honchkrow. "Lord Honchkrow. Everything went exactly as planed."

"So you've been fooling us from the beginning!" Aamira snapped at him. "I can't believe I trusted you!"

"Now, now. We didn't have this planned from the very beginning." Honchkrow said in a matter of fact way. "Murkrow here is a genius, I tell you. He played a weak fool just to get you to trust him after the two of you attacked him. Then when he had the chance to run he swapped that white stone you took from him with a fake and I joined up with him along with a few other Murkrow. He gave us the stone to assure us that he hadn't turned traitor and the two of us came up with a plan to test the investigative abilities of Team Sleuth. He would become the Black Claw again and lead you on an investigation. This way we would be able to test the full extent of your abilities for ourselves. Just as I predicted, he was caught, but I was waiting for the moment when you were one hundred percent certain it was him. Congratulations, you've passed out test. Now the real fun can start."

"What do you mean by that!" Quill asked.

"You'll see soon enough." Murkrow said smugly.

"I must say I really am amazed at how trusting the fearsome Team Sleuth really is." Murkrow said. "But not trusting enough to be fooled by a simple act like this. This might be more difficult than we anticipated."

"We?" Aamira said.

"Honchkrow and I, of course." Murkrow said. "I pretended to just be a simple servant to Lord Honchkrow, but in reality, I'm his right hand. Or, right wing in this case."

"You've got to be kidding!" Quill said.

Honchkrow shrugged and smiled smugly. "What can I say? He's like a son to me. He had to get his twisted genius mind somewhere, right?"

Murkrow laughed.

"You can have this back." Honchkrow threw the diamond ring to Aamira. Even the ring alone was a little heavy. "And Murkrow, don't you have something to say to them?"

"Yes, of course." Murkrow said. "Normally I leave a note behind after a successful theft, but this wasn't exactly successful, was it? But I did keep you in the dark for quite some time, didn't I? So what the heck? You've been hoodwinked by the Black Claw! And don't you forget it!"

"Until next time, you two." Honchkrow flew off. They tried to make a grab for either Murkrow or Honchkrow, but Murkrow used Mean Look at the last minute, freezing them all in place and flew off after Honchkrow.

After the effects of Mean Look wore off, everyone picked their selves up off of the ground.

"I guess we were just too trusting." Quill said while they were walking back.

"Really? I don't think so at all." Aamira said.

"What do you mean?" Quill asked.

"So we got tricked once? We technically still came out on top, right? We figured out it was Murkrow the whole time. Things are getting harder for us, you know? But we can't forget what's most important to us. We can't forget that our friends are the ones we know we can trust no matter what. Now of course we haven't known Murkrow for very long, but do you really think we can do everything on our own?"

"No. Of course we can't. No one's that good. So we know that no matter what, we can rely on our friends like our other team members, the members of Team Overgrow, Team Sandstone, Team Sky, and Team Blazer and everyone else too. We know that we can depend on people like them."

Aamira nodded.

"How interesting." Honchkrow's boss said to them. "So you were able to fool Team Sleuth with such a simple act for so long?"

"Yes, master." Murkrow said. "Of course it was Honchkrow's plan."

"Don't be so modest, young Murkrow. We believe that you are starting to move up in the world. In this world especially. Maybe it is time that we shared some more of our secrets with the two of you."

"Thank you, Master." Honchkrow said.

"But no matter what I tell you, the two of you will follow us in our plan, is that correct?"

"All I want is revenge against Aamira for what she did to me. I don't care what I have to do as long as that's the outcome." Honchkrow said.

"And I'll do anything that Lord Honchkrow asks me to." Murkrow said.

Their boss smirked, though it was hidden in the darkness. "Excellent."


	22. Chapter 22 What to Wish For

"It's tomorrow night! Can you believe it!" Quill asked excitedly. "Only once every thousand years!"

"I know! I know!" Aamira said equally excited. "And maybe we'll be able to meet Jirachi! If one of us becomes friends with Jirachi, he would grant us a wish."

"Wow, you think that's true?"

"There is a way you could find out." Electivire walked up behind him. "I hear the Millennium Comet passes closest to the country of Chalybs, the Steel country. It also so happens that Jirachi is a steel type pokemon. It's possible that you might find him there."

"Might?" Aamira asked. "Wasn't he sealed in a stone for the time when the comet wasn't around?"

Electivire nodded. "Yes, but no one knows where the Star Piece is. A lot of things can get lost in a thousand years, you know?"

"Electivire! I've got some big news!" One of the Delibird came flying through the window. "A kid in Chalybs found the Star Piece!"

Electivire sighed. "Isn't life as an investigator just great? Things like this always coming up."

Aamira raised her Aura Glass in the air. "Well what are we waiting for? To Chalybs!"

Quill sighed. "You sure do get excited easily, don't you?"

Aamira blushed and lowered her Aura Glass, smiling foolishly. "Heh. Sorry about that."

Aamira and Quill had started to feel that lately their adventures together had become more like when they first met. Solving mysteries and going wherever the wind blew; that was their style. They ran through the tall grass in the plane that covered Pacis. Aamira, out of nowhere, suddenly remembered the story about how these planes were created. Apparently Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres had gotten into a fierce battle a long time ago. During their fight, they destroyed half of a mountain range and the land in that area became so flat that it had turned into these planes.

"Hey, Quill?" Aamira said while they were running.

"What is it?" Quill asked.

"I was just wondering about something. There are a lot of stories about the legendary pokemon in this region. I don't mean just in Pacis, but in all of the countries all over this land."

Quill laughed. "Just a while ago you were acting really hyper, but now you're probably calmer than I've ever seen you. And what about 'this land'? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I was just thinking. There must be some other lands across the ocean or something where more pokemon exist. On the other hand, I kind of hope not. If so we might have to go there and help those pokemon too. So much of a hassle, and yet it would be nice to explore a place where no one else from this area has ever been."

Quill groaned. "Will you ever be satisfied? We've been to three different worlds counting this one, and you've technically been to another even though you can't remember it because of your amnesia. You still want to explore different areas in this world though?"

"Can one person know all of one world? I guess not."

Quill always felt really awkward when Aamira got like this. On several occasions Aamira has spaced out like this and started thinking of the most bizarre things. Though, now that he thought about it, it would be nice to know if there were other places around the world where different pokemon existed. They had seen so many pokemon, but there must be others.

He started running at a slower pace as he thought for a brief moment he had heard music of some sort carried by the wind, but he figured he must have just been imagining it. In only a moment, it had come and gone. Quill looked over at Aamira, but she didn't seem to notice anything.

The weather had been nice around here for quite a while. This day was no different. The sun was shining and the wind was causing the grass around them to rustle. If grass had emotions, anyone could say that it seemed like the grass was enjoying such amazing weather.

The mood of the day seemed to change quickly. In a few hours it started to get cloudy. They were on the edge of Chalybs by this time.

"I can smell rain coming." Quill said. "Luckily there are so many caves around here. Rain isn't bad, it makes plants grow and everything, but I feel so sluggish when it rains and I can barely muster up any strength at all."

"I feel the same way." Aamira said.

"Well I feel that way because I'm a fire type. Why do you feel that way?" Quill asked.

Aamira turned away, obviously embarrassed by something though Quill couldn't tell what. "It's nothing." She said.

They found a cave to crawl into to hide while it started pouring. They had just barely made it. It was a bad storm and obviously Quill wasn't feeling too well because of it. He seemed really tired from all of the humidity in the air.

The two of them sat against the wall of the cave and watched the rain. Quill was half asleep the whole time, but for Aamira it was the exact opposite. She felt jittery and uneasy whenever it rained.

'It could be worse.' She thought. At that exact moment there was a flash of lightning and the rumble of thunder. Aamira gasped and nearly jumped to her feet. Suddenly awake, Quill looked over at her and noticed her uneasy expression.

"Aamira, are you scared of thunder?" Quill asked, trying hard not to laugh.

"No, of course not!" Aamira said. "Who in their right mind would be scared of a bit of flashing light and noise?" Thunder rumbled again and Aamira tensed up a little. "I'm not afraid, I just don't like it. It makes me feel uneasy for some reason; it has literally for as long as I can remember. That time when we stayed in the palace in the Jester Village it stormed. And, of course, the whole time we were in Atra it stormed too. Not to mention in that dungeon, Jungle Overgrow. It just seems like so many bad things happen whenever it storms like this. I'm afraid it might be a foreshadowing of some horrific event that's about to take place."

"I just hope it stops storming before the comet shows up. If the comet isn't visible in the sky, Jirachi can't wake up. Anyway, I've been thinking, isn't Jirachi supposed to grant one wish to a friend that it makes when it wakes up? What would you wish for, Aamira?"

"Who ever got anything in life just by wishing for it?" Aamira asked. "Then again, it would be nice if I could at least remember what my family was like. But we do have other priorities. We need to find out what that legend is about. So far we don't know anything about it. It might be helpful if we wished for that."

"Do you want to know what I would wish for?" Quill asked.

"I know. Shadow, right?"

"What? No! People always say you should never meddle with the dead no matter what! Besides, there's that one story…"

"What story?" Aamira asked.

"The Curse of the Aipom's Paw." Quill said, knowing Aamira loved stories like this. "It starts, strangely enough on a stormy night like this."

"Okay, no need for the cliché beginning. It's not even night; it's just really dark because of the clouds."

"Hey, it's not my fault; that's really how the story starts."

"Which in a way proves my point that storms are never good signs."

"Well, whatever. As I was saying, it starts on a stormy night. A family of pokemon, a Delcaty, Meowth, and Persian, were sitting around the fire place at home and listening to the rain. There was a knock at the door and Persian went to answer it. Outside was an old friend of his, a famous explorer named Shiftry. Persian invited him in and he told them all about a journey he had been on to a far away land. He had told them about a treasure he had found; the Aipom's Paw. He said it granted the owner any three wishes. The ones who had owned it before were frantic and wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible, which was how he had gotten it. When Persian asked, he said that he had used his three wishes and that it hadn't been worth it. At that moment he tried to throw it into the fire, but Persian leapt up and took it out before it could burn.

"Persian said that he would pay Shiftry for it. Shiftry agreed, but begged Persian to burn it. Unsurprisingly, he didn't. The family gathered around the Aipom's Paw and tried to decide what to wish for first. The son, Meowth, said that he should wish to be emperor. Delcaty didn't even think it would work. In the end they decided to wish for something kind of small, but not to small. So Persian wished for a mere two hundred poke. They waited, but nothing happened.

"The next day Meowth and Persian headed off to work as they usually did, leaving Delcaty behind to do the housework. Persian, who worked at the very edge of town, usually got home much later than Meowth who worked a lot closer to home and usually got off work earlier. When Persian got home, Meowth still wasn't there. Delcaty figured that he must have gone to a friend's house after work.

"By dinner he still hadn't come home. After dinner, a Delibird came to them with a message. He told them that in the shop where Meowth worked, a large shelf had fallen over and crushed Meowth. The two parents were devastated at the news. Then Delibird said that he had come with the reparations from the shop keeper. The two of them knew immediately what it would be. Delibird took out a small pouch from his bag and handed it to them. It was a bag filled with money. Inside was exactly two hundred poke."

Aamira looked at Quill nervously, wondering if this was a true story. She shook the thought out of her head and convinced herself that it was just because of the storm that she was feeling so uneasy.

Quill continued with the story. "Delcaty burst into tears and Persian got so mad that he kicked the Delibird out and told him to keep the money. The next day the funeral was held for Meowth. His parents were so distraught that they stayed at his grave for three days, even sitting through another storm, before finally coming back home.

"When they got home Delcaty had an idea. She told Persian to use the Aipom's Paw to wish for their son to come back to life. He didn't like the idea, but Persian could see that Delcaty was miserable and decided to do it. He wished for their son to come back. At that moment there was a knock on the door. Delcaty rushed to answer the door while Persian realized what he had done. Meowth had been dead for three days. By now even the bones would be showing in some places. He realized what Delcaty would see when she opened the door and he couldn't let her see that. So he hastily grabbed the Aipom's Paw again and right before Delcaty opened the door, he made his third wish. Delcaty opened the door and sobbed when she saw that no one was there. In the end, they had lost more than they ever could have gained."

"That's horrible." Aamira said. "Be careful what you wish for, sure, but that's just horrible. Wait, did Aipom tell you that story?"

Quill laughed. "Yea, when we were younger she tried to scare me by telling me that story. It worked. I thought it was a story that she had just made up, but then one day she brought the book to school…"

Aamira laughed and covered her mouth. She couldn't believe that there was any way this story could be true. "So anyway, what would you wish for?"

Quill thought about it, but nothing came to mind. "I'm not really sure what I would wish for. I might get jealous of you sometimes for being such a good investigator, but I wouldn't wish to be better than you or anything. Other than that, my life is fine. I can't think of anything. I would probably just wish for some Lava Rock candy or something."

"Lava Rock candy?" Aamira asked.

"It's a really spicy type of candy that's famous in Ignis. It's hard to find it anywhere else. I've only tasted it once before, but I can still remember it; sweet and spicy at the same time and it just melts in your mouth! I'm sure we could get some if we go for the annual spring festival. It's kind of like their version of Honey Bars. You know, the candy bars that are made in Sylva. Being a fire type, I really like them. They're too spicy for anyone else though. Come to think of it, I think I really would want to wish for even just a piece of Lava Rock candy!"

Aamira laughed. "It's that good, huh?"

The two of them talked through the rest of the storm. It was still really cloudy and humid by the time they left, so Quill couldn't move as fast as before. Luckily they were so close by that time that they got there in no time just by walking.

The city, at first, seemed to be just a few small stone buildings. As it turns out there was one building that actually led underground. Under the ground, Aamira suddenly felt a bit of culture shock. The cities in Sylva had never been too big and the same went for every other city she had been to. The cities in Chalybs were apparently all in a huge crater under the ground. The buildings were all built into a large crater in the ground. From the top of the path that ran from the surface down a couple hundred feet to the city, they could see everything. Small crystals were embedded in the walls of the cave. They glowed and acted like an artificial sun. The houses were made in the stalagmites and stalactites which, for the most part, ran all the way between the ground and the ceiling. They seemed to be the only thing that was holding the cave up.

The city seemed to go on forever, stretching out and glowing in all directions like a city that was constantly under a night sky. In fact, the gems in the ceiling even mimicked the stars in the night sky. They seemed to even be in the same positions as the stars.

The two of them started walking down the ramp towards the city while looking around at the scenery.

"This city is huge!" Quill said. "How are we going to find our way through here?"

'At least I'm not the only one completely overwhelmed by this.' Aamira thought.

"What are the odds that Jirachi would be found here of all places?" Quill asked. "I mean, it's not like you can see the sky from underground, so how can Jirachi even wake up here?"

"I don't think that really has anything to do with it. Jirachi's a steel type so it would make sense that it would be here." Aamira said.

"Okay, how do you do that?"

"I must have learned all of this somewhere, I just can't remember where."

"Aamira, you know it's really hard to know that I was born a pokemon and you weren't and that you can't remember anything about where you came from. Maybe if we do meet Jirachi you should wish for your memory back."

Aamira shook her head. "No, it's fine. I might have erased my own memory, remember? I think I would want to learn more about why I would have erased my own memory before wishing for it back. Besides, don't you remember that long time ago when I thought there was a chance that I might be able to get home? I could tell that you were tortured by the thought that I might leave. If I do get my memory back, who's to say I'll want to stay here?"

"That's a good point." Quill said. "I can't believe you would keep your amnesia just for me."

"Of course. You're my little brother after all." Aamira smiled.

The two of them stopped right on the edge of the city, wondering where they should be going.

"Team Sleuth, right?" A small bat-like pokemon flew right in front of them, nearly scaring them to death. "Hi. I'm Zubat. Metagross sent me here to meet with the two of you. He told me to lead you to the one who found the Star Piece. Oh, and he also would like to ask you to help deal with any trouble makers we meet on the way."

"Trouble makers?" Quill said.

"Aye, yes. Specifically, his three sons. They've been getting a bit too rowdy lately. Everyone knows that they're sore for losing the tournament last year in the first round and they've been 'training' ever since."

"Who are they exactly?" Aamira asked.

"Team Fullmetal. This is just between us, but they're not all that strong. Or at least they didn't used to be. Before everyone pretended to lose to them because of their temper, but when they tried to fight in the tournament, the participants weren't so generous. Metagross tried to bribe all of the teams, but none of them would agree to let them win. It's not that they get dangerous when they're mad, they just get so loud that they give everyone a headache. Ever see an Onix with a headache? Now that's something to worry about, I tell you. Someone finally snapped when they lost their temper after losing the tournament. They were beaten to a pulp and ever since then they've been training by beating up the weaker younger pokemon. They were scolded and punished every time they did it, of course, but they never stopped. Now even Metagross is having trouble with them."

"That does sound like trouble." Quill said. "Since we're here, we might as well help out. We do have a few hours to kill, after all." 

"Yea, good point." Aamira said.

There was an explosion from somewhere in the city that shook the town. A few rocks fell on their heads from somewhere above and they all looked around nervously.

"That would be them." Zubat said. "How am I supposed to fly like this!"

"We'll see what we can do." Aamira said.

Quill and Aamira ran through the town in the direction of the explosion. Zubat followed them in the air. Along the way there were two more explosions and some of the pokemon they were passing by were rushing to hide in their houses.

In the center of the town was a huge fountain. Over by the fountain there were four pokemon. Three of them seemed to be in some sort of struggle while the fourth one watched. The pokemon that was watching was larger than the others. Two of the others looked like smaller versions of himself and were holding another pokemon that looked badly beaten up near the water in the fountain. Despite his injuries, the little silver pokemon continued to struggle.

"We could let you go if you just tell everyone the truth!" The larger of the pokemon said.

"I am telling the truth!" The smaller one said. "Let me go!"

"Not until you tell everyone that it was Team Fullmetal that found the Star Piece and not you!"

"Hey you three! Let him go!" Aamira shouted.

"Hmm?" The larger of the three turned towards them. "Oh. You're Aamira, right? The one who got third place in the tournament last year? There's not even a prize for second. Were you disappointed?"

"Not at all." Aamira said. "In fact, I never really thought about it."

"That's not exactly how it happened, you know that." Zubat said. "She was unconscious during the battle that would have determined the winner for third place so she lost by default."

"What!" Aamira turned to Quill.

Quill's back flared up slightly and he turned away. "Noctowl, Team Overgrow, and Team Sky thought it was best not to tell you…"

Aamira sighed and turned back to the pokemon. "Well it doesn't matter now, I guess. I did get that medal for getting past the preliminaries, but that's not exactly something special. But, listen! You can't be threatening to drown someone just to force them to do something!"

"Hmph. You don't understand, do you?" he said. "Our father's kind of lost favor in us. If he knows that it was us who really found the Star Piece and not this runt, he would be more accepting!"

"We've heard you're pretty tough. Though we usually try to avoid fighting, or at least I do, we've been asked to help get you three back on your leashes if you try causing any trouble. If you want a fight, then fight us! Don't go around bullying people, three on one, like you are now!"

The larger of the three pokemon gestured to the other two, who then dropped the fourth pokemon. Zubat flew as quickly as he could over to the fountain and caught him right before he fell in the water.

"You think you're hotshots? Fine, then! Let's go! But you'll regret the day you decided to take on Metang and the Beldum twins!"

The two Beldum attacked them suddenly. They were too fast to dodge, but after the attack, they suddenly collapsed on the ground, leaving both Quill and Aamira with hardly any damage at all.

"What was that!" Aamira said, half amused.

"My useless little brothers…" Metang said. "The only attack they can use is Take Down and they faint right after using it every time! No matter; I'm much stronger than the two of them!"

"I should hope so." Aamira said, obviously feeling a bit annoyed. "This wouldn't be any fun at all any other way."

"Are you sure you want to fight us, though?" Quill asked. "You do realize that the two of us are a fighting and fire type, don't you?"

"So what? I can defeat anyone! And even as useless as my brothers are, they must have done at least a little damage!" He said.

Aamira was staring at him intently. Apparently she had thought of something that Quill hadn't.

He attacked them first without warning. He used psychic and the two of them quickly jumped out of the way. Quill used Flamethrower, which Metang was easily able to dodge. Then Metang used Psychic on Aamira again. Aamira stood her ground and took the attack only to counter with Payback. Unfortunately Metang was able to somehow dodge her attack also.

"You're faster than you look!" Quill shouted at him. He seemed to be having fun, at least. Aamira just kept watching Metang passively.

Apparently Aamira's emotionless expression was getting to Metang, because he seemed to have lost it when he started repeatedly attacking her with Psychic. Aamira was easily able to dodge all of the attacks.

While Metang was distracted, Quill attacked from behind with Flame Wheel. Metang dodged again and turned his focus onto Quill. He used Bullet Punch and knocked Quill into the ground. Aamira used Aura Sphere from behind and was finally able to land an attack.

Metang turned back to Aamira now and used Hyperbeam. The cave shook and rocks fell from the ceiling all around them. Aamira barely dodged it and was pelted by a few of the falling rocks. While Metang was frozen for a minute, Quill and Aamira used the opportunity to hit him with a combo of Aura Sphere and Flamethrower.

Metang regained his ability to move and tried to attack Quill again. Aamira ran in front of Quill and blocked the attack with ease. It was then that she showed the first sign on emotion that she had the entire time that they had been battling. She smirked, grabbed one of Metang's arms, which he had used to attack, and threw him against the ground.

"How did you know what I was going to do?" Metang asked in a feeble voice. "Were you waiting for me to do that?"

"Yea, actually." Aamira said, seeming to have no real interest in his question. "I figured that you probably knew a move like Brick Break. A bit pathetic, actually. So let me guess; you learned Bullet Punch and Brick Break specifically to battle Steel and Rock types, am I right?"

"You couldn't have figured that out." Metang said.

"Oh, I get it." Quill said. "They were mad because they kept losing to everyone when they stopped letting them win, so Metang learned attacks that would let them defeat their opponents easier. But you know, you won't just be fighting Steel and Rock types forever. Is that why you learned Hyperbeam? And you learned Psychic to fight against fighting types?"

"The two of you were a step ahead of me this whole time…?" The two Beldum flew over to Metang and lifted him off of the ground.

"You can't just fight with brute strength; you need to be prepared for the unexpected. Use your head!" Aamira said.

Quill had a feeling that this was an exact quote of something that either Lucario or Ruko had told her, but decided not to ask.

Metang glared angrily at the two of them before the two Beldum carried him off somewhere to sulk about their defeat.

"I-Is it over?" A timid voice asked. The pokemon that the three of them had been tormenting came out of hiding along with Zubat. "I thought they were going to drown me! I can't swim, being a steel type; I just sink."

"I understand that." Quill said, cheerfully.

"I'm Aron." He said. "Don't listen to those three; I was the one who found the Star Piece. They were pretty jealous because I kept getting a bunch of attention, but it was more embarrassing than anything."

"It's nice to meet you, Aron." Aamira said. "We're—"

"Oh, you don't need to introduce yourselves! Everyone knows you two! Quill and Aamira from Team Sleuth!"

Okay, so they had saved the world. It was still a bit strange that people they didn't even know knew who they were. The two of them even thought it was a bit annoying at times. Quill thought about when he used to wish about being part of a famous team. Now it was just annoying.

"It's almost dark, isn't it?" Zubat asked. "I can usually tell. The comet will probably be out in a few hours. At that time Jirachi will wake up. Of course, there is one problem. It's said that Jirachi has to hear a certain song in order to wake up."

"You're kidding." Quill said. "Hey, Aamira, do you hear anything like that?"

A few times before, Aamira had heard songs when she had no reason to. But this time was different.

"I don't hear anything." Aamira said. "I half expected to, actually."

"That's too bad." Quill said. "Well we should at least go and take a look at the Star Piece."

They had thought that the Star Piece would be kept somewhere safe like in Town Hall, but instead Aron was keeping it in his house. Zubat flew off to let their leader know that they had arrived and finally put his sons in their place.

Aamira noticed that even though his house was a little smaller, that Aron's house was a lot like how Quill's room looked back in their old Treehouse. In place of Quill's hot coal bed, there was a straw bed lined with stones. Laying on the bed was a purple crystal, a lot like the ones in the walls and ceilings outside.

"This is Jirachi. Kind of." Aron said timidly.

'He even acts a bit like Quill used to.' Aamira noticed. 'He could really use a friend like Jirachi.' Aamira smiled absentmindedly, but hid it hoping that neither of them had seen it.

"Please wake up soon. Jirachi." She heard Aron whisper under his breath. Aamira suddenly realized something that she hadn't before. Everyone else just wanted to see Jirachi because it was a rare legendary pokemon, but Aron just wanted to meet Jirachi for the sake of meeting someone.

"Aron." Zubat flew through the window on their right. "The festival's about to start. We all need to go above ground now."

"Ok." Aron struggled trying to pick up the Star Piece which, was roughly his size and even worse considering Aron usually walked on four legs.

"Oh, here. Let me help you." Aamira took the Star Piece. It felt strangely light considering its size. "You know, it looks really sparkly. I wonder what the comet itself looks like if just a piece of it looks like this."

Aron looked up at her gratefully and led the way towards the ramp they had used to climb down to the city. Aamira wondered how the larger pokemon would be able to get up the ramp, but then she noticed that some of the pokemon flew, levitated, or used Dig as opposed to walking up the ramp. In was only the smaller pokemon who were using the ramp.

Outside, which was mostly just a wide, barren field before, there were decorations all over set up for some sort of festival.

"You know, the comet only comes around once every one thousand years." Aron said. "Yet we have this festival every year. It would really be something else to be alive to see the actual comet. And I heard that our customs haven't changed at all just because of Jirachi. Jirachi usually likes to roam around and learn about how the world is when it wakes up and apparently it really likes hearing stories of adventure. I doubt it would really want to be friends with me…"

"Don't say that." Aamira said. "I'm sure you must have found it for a reason. Jirachi must have chosen you a long time ago and you had no idea."

"You really think so?" Aron asked.

"The comet's not out yet." Quill said. "We might as well have some fun before it appears. It looks like there's a ton of old fashioned types of food here and a bunch of cool games."

"I could show you how to play them, if you want." Aron said.

"Okay, that sounds fun." Quill said.

"Now, wait a second!" Aamira started to run after them, but the Star Piece, even though it was light in weight, was really bulky and hard to run with. Aamira sighed. "That kid needs a friend? I can already tell that him and Quill will be fine."

Aamira noticed that the barren ground had ended after a short distance and that short grass and shrubs covered the rest of the ground. She climbed up on a hill at the edge of the festival and looked out over it. She sat the Star Piece in the ground and looked around for Quill and Aron. They were playing some sort of darts game.

Aamira noticed a bright light out of the corner of her eye. It had to have been the comet, but it was still too far away.

Aaron and Quill had apparently noticed it too. They spotted Aamira on the hill and ran over to her.

"Hey, Aamira, you have to try one of these star cakes." Quill handed her what she thought looked like a star-shaped cookie. She sniffed it once before biting into it. She thought that Quill would have liked it if it was spicy, but it was actually really sour. Her lips puckered and her eyes started watering. Aron and Quill laughed.

"I told you that would happen!" Aron said.

"Thanks for testing it for me, Aamira!" Quill said happily.

"Am I your guinea pig now?" Aamira said, though just as happy as they were.

"Guinea pig?" Quill tilted his head.

Aamira couldn't believe that after all of this time, she was still making mistakes like this. She was using phrases from the human world that pokemon wouldn't understand in the slightest. It was a horrible curse that she was under. Most people would worry about being misunderstood if they went somewhere with completely different customs than what they were used to, but Aamira was literally misunderstood.

"There it is!" Aron pointed up in the sky. Without any of them realizing, the comet had appeared.

Aamira looked at the Star Piece, which had acquired a strange glow around it. "We still don't know the song."

"I think I do…" Quill said, staring intently at the Star Piece. "Aamira, could you maybe try your music box?

"Huh?" Aamira got out her music box and opened it. The Star Piece seemed to start glowing brighter and levitated a few feet off of the ground. It had caught the eye of everyone in the festival and they were all watching now.

It glowed so bright it was blinding for a fraction of a second before completely disappearing. In the place of where the Star Piece had been, there was a small pokemon with a head shaped like a star and a yellow circular body. At least, that's what it looked like at first. A yellow cape of some sort had apparently been wrapped around it. When it fell to the ground, caught just in time by Aamira, the cape unfurled revealing what it really looked like.

It opened its eyes and looked around at them, and then it noticed the music box. Jirachi jumped out of Aamira's arms and started flying and dancing around the music box.

"I haven't seen this in so long!" Jirachi said happily. "This music box must have gone through a lot in the past few years! I'm glad to see it still works and is obviously so well taken care of!"

"That's Aamira's music box." said Quill.

Jirachi closed the lid on the box and sat on top of it, looking at the three of them nervously. Then he pointed at Aamira. "I knew you would come!"

"Huh!" Aamira said, slightly startled by this.

"I sensed your spirit not long ago." Jirachi flew into the air again until he was at eye level with Aamira. "I started rousing from my slumber before I should have. I sensed a horrible darkness sneaking its way into this world. Everything was thrown off balance and chaos would have ruled if not for your spirit."

"You mean my Aura?" Aamira asked.

"Yea, that!" Jirachi said.

"At the end of the week when Jirachi goes back to sleep and returns back underground, it releases its energy into the ground." Aron said. "If that's true, It must have been able to feel what was happening."

"That's right! That's right!" Jirachi started rolling around in the air. "I always can't believe it, every time I wake up, that I'm not forgotten! After so long people still remember me!"

"You're a legend. Legends like you I don't think will never die. I think there was a phrase I heard once, 'A hero is remembered, but a legend never dies.'" Aamira said.

"Where did you hear that from?" Quill asked.

"Wow, twice in ten minutes!" Aamira laughed. "This is so unlike me."

"And you're Aron!" Jirachi flew down to Aron. "I've been wanting to meet you, you know?"

Aamira suddenly wondered if what she had discovered about how Aron felt towards meeting Jirachi had anything to do with it. Her question was answered almost immediately.

"A strong and giving heart. Completely unselfish!" Jirachi said happily. "Just like my old friend, Acuity, who instead of making a wish for himself used it to set me free every time the comet passed."

"I've heard that name before. What kind of pokemon was Acuity?" Quill asked.

"He was a Raichu. Really strong one too. "

Aamira shivered. Quill knew that she was thinking about the Raichu they had met not too long ago. That was a horrible time for both of them.

Jirachi started eyeing the bag that Aron was carrying. "That smell… Are those star cakes?"

"Someone told me it was your favorite food, so I decided to get them." Aron said. He opened the bag and Jirachi pulled one out.

"Ooh, thank you!" he said happily with tears in his eyes. He bit into it happily. After that he ate three more. Aamira noticed that Jirachi was pretty small compared to the Star Piece. Why had she been lugging that thing around!

"For such a small pokemon, you sure have an appetite." Aron smiled and helped himself to one of the cakes. Aamira and Quill were too scared to put one in their mouths because of how sour they were.

Aamira yawned. "You just woke up, but I'm really tired now." she rubbed one of her eyes.

"Come on, you can't fall asleep now!" Quill said. Aamira had already laid down in the grass looking up at the comet. "Good grief…"

"Lazy Riolu are all the same. It's only when they evolve that they get serious." Jirachi said. "The last friend I made was a Riolu. You wouldn't happen to be a descendant, would you?"

"I don't think that's possible." Quill said. "Aamira's not really a Riolu, she's a human turned into a Riolu."

"Are you serious!" Aron said. "I didn't know that!"

"We try to keep that bit of information quiet." Aamira glanced over and Quill who looked back nervously.

"I wonder if you're that same wereolu mentioned in that legend…" Jirachi said.

Aamira sat up and looked over at Jirachi. "Wereolu?"

"A human turned into a Riolu. It seems to happen a lot for some reason. At least it did, but that was a long time ago. I'm guessing you would just be considered a freak now."

Aamira looked at him desperately.

"Sorry, I've completely forgotten my manners! Anyway, it was said that a long time ago there were lots of pokemon who were turning into humans and vice versa. The world was all messed up then. Thank goodness for Team Unity."

"I know that name." Quill said. "Team Unity was a team that was going around and warning legendary pokemon that they were being attacked."

"Attacked!" Jirachi turned back to him. "When did this happen! What's happened while I was asleep?"

"We're not really sure ourselves." Aamira said. "We've been going around trying to unseal legendary pokemon from their treasures, but most of them have horrible blank spots in their memories so they don't know what happened to them."

"Oh, so it is that legend after all." Jirachi said. "About all of the legendary pokemon waking up at the same time."

"You know the legend?" Quill asked. "Aamira, your wish came true after all!"

"Give me a break! It was a long time ago so it's not like I remember all of it…" Jirachi thought for a minute. "I can remember part of it at least. 'The two siblings reunited will struggle at last to uncover the secrets of the ancient past. When the chosen one becomes two, then the legend truly starts in a world that is new. When the past returns to present the future shall be changed and dimensions themselves will become rearranged.' I'm afraid that's all I can remember right now. I'm sure more of it will come to me eventually." Jirachi yawned. "Ooh, I'm getting tired too. For some reason I never have much energy on the first night…"

"You were calling me lazy. You've been asleep for a thousand years and you're still tired."

"Maybe I ate too much." Jirachi said drowsily. "Hey, Aron, do you have a place I can stay?"

"Oh, sure." Aron said. He had obviously understood that what they had been talking about was important and hadn't said a word the entire time. When Jirachi had actually talked to him, it had startled him at first. "You can stay at my house if you want, or you could go with them to the Inn where the Investigation Teams stay."

"I'll go with you. I'm used to sleeping underground." Jirachi said.

"But I didn't even tell you that the Inn was above ground. How did you know?" Aron said.

"Oh, that's my third eye. It's also how I found out about the legend even though I was asleep at the time. Nothing you have to worry about. Yet, anyway."

Jirachi, who was half asleep, followed Aron back underground. Aamira and Quill could hear Jirachi talking to Aron about how different this place had looked in the past.

"You people are pathetic." Quill said. "I guess you have to be born in Sylva in order to have an all night party and not be tired at all the next day."

"Hey, it was a long day. Besides, you took a nap when it started raining earlier."

"That's true." Quill said guiltily. He had almost forgotten that Aamira whished that she really had been born in Sylva. "Well let's go find this inn that Aron mentioned."

The Inn was packed. Investigation teams and sight seers had come from all over to see the comet and for a chance to catch a glimpse of Jirachi. The two of them tried to ignore the stares as they were getting their room, which apparently Electivire had reserved for them ahead of time knowing it would be crowded. The two of them climbed up the stone steps to the top floor where their room was. Aamira groaned and laid on one of the beds.

"I hate these beds!" Aamira said. "I should have thought ahead and brought my hammock."

"Too bad I couldn't bring by coal bed even if I wanted to. This just makes me want to visit Ignis even more." Quill said. "Hey, you know about how when we were in Tempestas we found out that instead of one of us being 'the chosen one' we were actually both chosen? That sounds a lot like what Jirachi said, didn't it? When the chosen one becomes two?"

"What about that other part? 'When the past returns to present, the future shall be changed.' What do you think that means? It sounds a bit like when you went back in time and then came back to this time. Did you somehow change the future?"

"Maybe." Quill said. "Maybe we'll figure it out eventually. We might have to go to another world, right? And what about what Ruko said about the Eye of the Moon? Do you think that's all really true? Aamira?" he looked over at her bed, but she had already fallen asleep.

"What? Are you sure?"

"I'm positive that's what I saw!" Murkrow said to their boss. "A music box was used to wake up Jirachi. Then he started going on about some sort of legend."

"Honchkrow, did you know anything about this that you didn't tell us?" he looked over at Honchkrow, who was cowering in a corner. He had just failed his own mission and his boss wasn't happy about it.

"No, master. This is the first I've heard of this."

"Surely you must know if she was carrying a music box like that around in Atra?" he asked.

"She was, but it just looked like a dingy beat up thing. The only time I ever saw it was when she first showed up. Mismagius told me to try to treat her wounds and I noticed it on a table by her bed."

"Is that so?" the pokemon turned away from Honchkrow and back to the Murkrow. "We think you are far more reliable than this feathery mess. Can we count on you to bring Jirachi to us?"

"Of course." Murkrow bowed. "The music box too?"

"No, leave it for now. It's not the right time yet." He turned back to Honchkrow. "Now Honchkrow, why don't you go looking for that meddling Ruko character? We want to know exactly how he was able to get that music box when it was last seen in Atra!"

"Are you really going to rely on him again?" Raichu stepped out of a shadowy corner. "Let me deal with Ruko; I'm sure that old washed up Lucario would be no match for me."

"You make a fair point, our friend. Very well, you go and find Ruko. We have other matters to attend to at this moment."

In the corner, Raikou's eyes started to glow and he let out a vicious roar. At that same time, dozens of pokemon all over the world suddenly stirred from their sleep, all trying to remember some strange dream they had just had.

"The worlds are starting to merge. Soon these dreams will turn into a horrible nightmare for all of them. By the time they figure out what it means, it will be too late."


	23. Chapter 23 Approaching Storm

Aamira and Quill woke up with a start and both sat up in their beds. They both looked over at each other and jumped out of bed. Judging by the noise from the other rooms, it hadn't just happened to them.

"What's going on?" Quill asked.

"I don't know." Aamira said. "Maybe there was a small earthquake or something?

They stepped out of their room and looked around. Everyone else was doing the same exact thing.

"Hey! You two!" It was Pikachu.

"Hey, it's been a while." Aamira said. "Aren't you in the Investigators Brigade? It's weird that we hardly see each other."

"Never mind that, do you have something to do with this? You are the emanation pokemon after all."

"I'm as confused about this as you are." Aamira said.

"It looks like the same thing happened to everyone." Quill said. "Did something happen?"

"A strange powerful energy passed through here." Pikachu said. "It was light energy, but it felt sinister. How strange."

"Could it have had something to do with Jirachi?" Quill asked.

"Why would Jirachi's energy be sinister?" Aamira asked.

"I didn't think about that." Quill said. "Hey, Pikachu, why could you sense it anyway?"

"I've always been able to sense things like that. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who's able to; I just happened to be awake at the time." Pikachu said. "My guess is that everyone was able to feel it because they were asleep at the time and it's said that people's minds are more susceptible to energy when asleep. Though, since they were asleep, even if people who normally wouldn't have been able to feel it if they were awake wouldn't know what it was that they felt."

"I heard something, I think." Quill said. "Lately it seems like I can hear things that are going on even when I'm asleep, but it's hard to tell if it's in my dream or not. Aamira, were you playing poker with our other team members one night and Machop said if he won you had to give him a kiss?"

Aamira started laughing hysterically. "Yea, that happened a few days ago. Glameow was teaching us how to play poker, Machop already knew how, and I guess I just had a bit of beginner's luck."

"But I thought that you said that if you win you would learn how to fly. Then you actually won and flew out the window." Quill said.

"That part must have been a dream." Aamira said, slightly amused. "So what did you think you heard?"

Quill tried to remember. "Well I think it was part of a dream, but I'm not sure. I heard Honchkrow and Murkrow talking to someone, but I can't remember what they said. Then Raichu appeared and said that he would look for Ruko. Then there was a roar of some sort and I woke up along with everyone else."

"I remember Raichu!" Plusle said, coming out of the same room that Pikachu had previously been in.

"Raichu was mad! He was really mad! He was jealous of Honchkrow!" Minun said, following his brother.

"What are you two going on about?" Pikachu asked. "Raichu couldn't have been mad or jealous, you know that." He turned back to team sleuth, then suddenly realized what the two of them were saying and turned back to them. "Wait, are you saying you two had that dream too?"

"We share everything!" Minun said.

"Even our dreams!" Plusle said.

"Quill must be our long lost triplet!" they both said.

"Uh, I don't think that's possible…" Quill said. "But this is kind of weird. Did you have that dream too, Aamira?"

Aamira thought about it for a second. When she thought about it, it seems like she did have a dream about a dark room, those familiar blue eyes to whom she didn't know they belonged, and the glowing eyes of Raikou. "I think I did." Aamira said. "But I can't remember anything about it."

Around them, everyone else seemed to have experienced similar things. They were talking frantically about a pair of blue eyes, or a variety of other things. A loud crash of thunder came from outside. It was so loud that everyone screamed and jumped and fell completely silent. Everyone with a room on the same side of the hall as Aamira and Quill ran back into their rooms. Anyone on Pikachu's side of the room ran into the rooms on the other side of the hall, apparently since there weren't any windows in the other rooms.

Pikachu, Plusle, and Minun all followed Aamira and Quill into their room. The five of them looked out of the window. It had to be dawn by now, but it was as dark as midnight because of the sudden storm.

"This looks like Raikou." Pikachu said. "My fur is starting to stand on ends. I don't think I've felt electric currents this strong in a while. It might be even more than it usually is in Tempestas."

Quill yawned. "I think I'll go back to bed." He walked drowsily back to his bed and laid down. He was asleep within minutes.

"What's with him?" Pikachu asked.

"Fire types lose their energy when it rains." Aamira said. "I don't like thunderstorms much myself after my visit to Tempestas." She figured that she had better say this before a rumble of thunder made her nearly jump out of her fur and Pikachu started laughing at her for being scared of thunder.

Pikachu was squinting to see something through the rain covered window. "What is that? That little speck of light."

Aamira looked. It seemed familiar somehow. "Is that Jirachi?" She ran to her bed and grabbed her bag that had fallen under it when she went to bed the previous night. "What is he doing out in the middle of this storm?"

"Quill's out cold, so I'll come with you." Pikachu said. "I've always wanted to meet Jirachi." Plusle and Minun were able to follow them, but Pikachu stopped them. "No, you two should stay here. Who knows what's out there, so go back to our room and lock the door behind you."

The two of them looked really disappointed but went back to their room regardless.

"What's wrong with them? They can't be completely useless. When you said they could be defeated by a Magikarp, I'm sure that's not true." Aamira said.

"No, they're not that weak. In fact, it's the exact opposite." Pikachu said. "Once when we were younger there was a horrible storm like this. It seemed to have affected those two more than anyone else. They went berserk and started attacking everyone. Most of the people in Tempestas battle to get rid of built up energy, but when those two went wild a lot of people ended up getting seriously injured. The two of them ended up dispelling nearly all of their energy and ended up passing out from it. When they came to a week later, they couldn't remember a thing. The headmaster at our academy told them that they had been knocked out by an Electabuzz and even gave them the lowest grade possible just so they would be on the same team as me. He told me about it and said to keep an eye on them."

"So it was because they're too strong that you were forced to form a team with those two." Aamira said. "That seems like the exact opposite of what you said last year."

"Does that matter right now? We should go check up on Jirachi." Pikachu led the way out of the inn and Aamira followed after him somewhat reluctantly.

Outside Jirachi was whooping and shouting and doing little spins in the air, clearly enjoying himself.

"Hey, Jirachi!" Aamira called to him.

Jirachi stopped, looked around for the source of the voice, and when he finally noticed them waved to them and flew over.

"Isn't the rain just great?" Jirachi said. "I almost forgot how the rain felt. So what are you doing out here? Enjoying the rain?"

Aamira stiffened up at the sound of thunder. "Not exactly. We were just wondering why you were out here, but it looks like you're just enjoying the rain."

"Yup. That's it." He turned to Pikachu. "You're from Tempestas, aren't you? When I was there last it was in its prime. Your people favor this kind of weather, don't you?"

Pikachu seemed to have gotten a bit jittery after coming outside. He was swaying from foot to foot and wagging his tail a bit impatiently. "It's more annoying to me now than anything. Why we have to suffer from this curse I'll never know."

"Curse?" Jirachi tilted its head. "Oh, you mean that old superstition? Zapdos didn't do that; that's just the way electric types are. It happens to steel types too. I mean, just look at me! I don't remember ever being this hyperactive. I'm a bit worried about all of the steel and rock type pokemon in this area. The rock types all went into hiding when the rain started and the steel types are all getting really restless. It might get dangerous. And because of the lightning no flying type pokemon can get out either. What a mess this will turn into…"

"You're a steel type, then?" Pikachu asked. "Then battle me and let's get rid of this horrible build up of electricity!"

"No thanks." Jirachi said. "It would be too much of a let down. One attack from my Draco Meteor and you'll be out for a week!"

"If this storm is affecting so many people in a bad way, shouldn't we find a way to stop it?" Aamira said. It was true that she was worried about everyone else, but really the storm was just making her really nervous and jumpy.

"Stop a storm?" Pikachu asked. "How do we do that?"

"We could find a pokemon that knows Sunny Day." Jirachi said. "Ooh, that reminds me of something. This storm is pretty bad. I hope it's not caused by Kyogre or some really bad stuff might happen."

"Kyogre." Aamira said to herself. "That reminds me. Of all of the legendary pokemon I know, I've met most of them by now. What will happen if I do meet them all?"

"Huh?" Jirachi tilted his head. "Anyway, I'm worried about all of the pokemon being effected by this storm. We should really try to find a pokemon that knows Sunny Day so they can fix this."

"Oh wait! I know a pokemon that knows Sunny Day!" Aamira said. "Yea, it was one of my first adventures with Quill. The berries around Lake Harmony weren't growing so we were sent to find Roserade so she could use Sunny Day."

"That's convenient." Pikachu said.

"Not really. She lives all the way in Vine City. Quite a distance from here, isn't it? It would probably take a while to get there."

"Whatever!" Pikachu snapped at her. "More opportunities for fights! I can get rid of some of this energy that way."

Aamira looked back at the Inn that they were staying at. "Quill, Plusle, and Minun are all out of commission because of the weather. We should go tell them what's going on, then the three of us can head to Sylva together."

Jirachi nodded. "That's a good idea. Me and Aron were staying up all night talking. We're pretty good friends now, but he's getting so anxious because of the weather. I don't like him when he acts like that."

Aamira, Pikachu, and Jirachi went up to her room where Quill was still half asleep. As soon as Aamira mentioned wanting to get back to Vine City to find Roserade, he tried to jump out of bed to come with them, but he was so exhausted it was hard for him to stand.

"It's fine." Aamira turned to Jirachi and Pikachu. "You know, you two are being affected by the storm also. Maybe you should wait here."

"And why should we let you go ahead!" Pikachu shouted. He was clearly becoming more bitter with every passing moment.

"Your temper's getting out of hand for one, and you'll probably just slow me down. You know Riolu can cross an entire mountain range in one day. Quill and I have been working together since day one so he's just as fast as I am, but since he's like this then obviously he can't come."

"No, Aamira." Quill said. "It's too dangerous. What if… Honchkrow…"

"You need to just relax." Aamira said. "It won't take me long, hopefully, and you're exhausted. Honchkrow and his minions can't fight what they can't catch."

Quill nodded. "I hate feeling so useless… I wish I could help…"

Aamira didn't know what she could say. She knew that Quill hated knowing that Aamira had all of these abilities, which she couldn't even control, from being an Aura Reader, but what was she supposed to do about it? It had been nothing but trouble for her, always attracting powerful and dangerous enemies, like Mismagius and Honchkrow. She almost wished that she could give her abilities to Quill since he wanted them so much.

Before leaving, Aamira muttered something under her breath to Quill so the others couldn't hear it. "You know I'm no better off like this." She whispered.

Aamira turned and left the room, noticing a series of loud bangs from Pikachu's room where Plusle and Minun were no doubt fighting each other since no one else was around for them to gang up on.

Aamira ran across the stormy landscape as fast as she could, flinching every now and then from a flash of lightning or the sound of rumbling thunder. She wondered what it was about storms that made her so jumpy. Maybe something in her past had caused it? She couldn't remember, so it didn't really matter.

Lightning struck the ground up ahead. Aamira froze and looked around. She had come quite some way, but she was still a long way from Vine City. It was amazing how much area this storm covered.

Aamira sat down on the wet ground and looked around at the large expanse of field she was sitting in. There was nothing for miles. No place to stop to rest for a moment without getting soaked. At least on first appearance. Hiding in the distance was a small pile of rocks that someone seemed to have put together to make a handmade and obviously temporary cave as a place to rest.

Aamira got up and ran over to the rocks and ducked inside so she could get out of the rain. It was a while before she noticed that there was someone else inside. Obviously the person who had made this cave hadn't moved on.

"Oh don't be startled." She was a lot older than Aamira had expected. "In this dreadful weather, I don't mind sharing the only dry place for miles."

"Thank you." Aamira said.

The other pokemon smiled. "I'm Nidoqueen. I was out here looking for my husband when this storm hit. I don't like water much, so I uprooted a few rocks from the earth and made this little shelter. Let me tell you, this is no natural storm."

"You can tell?" Aamira asked.

"I can tell more than most people." Nidoqueen said. "I can peer into the hearts of every species of pokemon and see what they most desire, among other things. I can see your heart aches with loneliness and you've been stricken by strong fear lately. Not just from the storm either."

"How did you…?" Aamira peered out at the pounding rain. It was storming as hard as ever. She thought it might have even gotten a little worse.

"There's something else though." Nidoqueen said. "I sense a deep longing. A hollow pain somewhere deep inside you that wants to find the truth about something. Something you've forgotten, maybe?"

"I lost my memory a little over a year back. I can't remember a single thing. But lately it feels like my past is coming back to haunt me. I didn't really care before whether I would ever get my memory back or not, but now that all of this has started to happen I've been getting really curious."

"So it's not just that you've forgotten something, it's that you've forgotten everything. You might find the answers to your past in that other world."

Aamira's ears perked up. "Another world? What world?"

"The world you know and don't know at the same time. The world you forgot, but the one you see almost every day. Or night, as it may be."

"I don't understand." Aamira said. "A world I know and don't know at the same time."

"In a place both known and unknown to thee, will come a vision of these brave heroes three. In a prophecy both lying and true… Oh, if only I remembered more!" Nidoqueen said frustrated. "It's like pieces of a puzzle. At once we all forgot the prophecy, but some of us remember bits and pieces."

"The prophecy?" Aamira asked. "What do you mean you all forgot?"

"There was a pokemon with the ability to take memories, named Uxie. Uxie's power was stolen by another pokemon and that pokemon used Uxie's power to erase nearly all memory of the prophecy. That's why I think you must have something to do with it. If you did lose your memory, like you say, then that pokemon with Uxie's power might be the one you want to meet."

"And who is this pokemon?" Aamira asked.

"I don't remember. I believed that this pokemon was especially careful to erase all memories of himself. I believe that this pokemon must have also been mentioned in the prophecy, which is why he would have wanted to erase all memory of it. But I do remember one thing. The prophecy had a name. Three heroes of Myth, I think it was called. Like I say, it's hard to remember any of it."

"You're a bit mysterious." Aamira said to Nidoqueen.

"You're the mysterious one. No one knows about you, not even yourself. People say the things we don't know won't hurt us. Whoever thought of that is an idiot, nothing more. Be careful that your past doesn't really come back to haunt you, or that your friends don't get dragged into it."

"What do you mean! Are you saying Quill and Lucario are involved in this somehow?"

Nidoqueen laughed. "Well the legend is called the THREE heroes, isn't it? That's the only part I know for sure. For now it is only two of you, but for how long? Maybe even the past you do remember will come back to HAUNT you."

'Mismagius!' Aamira thought. She couldn't say the name out loud though. It was as if that name was just too horrible to mention in the face of a stranger. "I should get going. I'm on my way to find someone who might be able to get rid of this storm. Then you can get back to looking for your husband."

"I don't think you need to worry about me." Nidoqueen said. "Nidoking is gone. Gone to a place where he can't return."

"Oh. Sorry. But then why did you say you were looking for him?"

Nidoqueen smiled. "Aren't we all looking for something, even if we don't realize it? Don't worry, Aamira. What you're looking for will come to you eventually on its own."

"Right, well… I should get going. I promised my friend I'd be quick." Aamira walked out of the cave, completely confused, and suddenly realized something. "How did you know my name?" She turned to the stone structure, but it was gone. Nidoqueen was nowhere to be found. Instead there was a small headstone. Aamira walked up to it and read what it said:

"In memory of Nidoqueen, who died on this spot while waiting in a storm for Nidoking to return."

Aamira backed away a little, feeling like her blood had suddenly become ice cold and looked around. Nidoqueen couldn't have been a ghost! It was absurd! There was no such thing! Then again, it would have made sense that Aamira could see a ghost who died during a storm while it was actually storming. Sort of. None of it made sense!

Aamira was so confused. Her fur had nearly been dry before she walked out of the stone structure. It had to have been real or she wouldn't have been able to dry off at all. Aamira shook her head and kept running.

When she finally reached the forest, she found that it wasn't as lively as usual. Nearly everyone was shut away in their houses. She passed through some of the more minor cities in Sylva before finally getting to Vine City, its capital. Realizing that she didn't know exactly where Roserade lived, she turned and headed towards Town Square. Noctowl would be able to tell her.

She knocked on the door and Noctowl immediately answered.

"I knew you were coming." He said. "Though I don't like it, being an Aura Reader does have its advantages at times."

He let her in, to Aamira's gratitude, and Aamira started to dry off in the warm and dry air.

"You're wondering where Roserade is?" Noctowl asked. "This isn't a normal storm. Her Sunny Day won't work in weather like this. She's already tried."

"There must be some way to stop it." Aamira said. "A lot of pokemon are suffering from this."

"I know." Noctowl said. "Flying types can't fly because of the lightning, bug types have trouble moving when they get wet, especially if they have wings, rock and fire types become drowsy and weak, steel and electric types get charged with energy and go on rampages, water types are even too afraid to leave the water because of the lightning. There's another problem too. If the trees and the other plants in this forest get too much water, they'll die. We won't be able to stay here. This storm is unbelievable. It's covering the whole continent."

"But what can we do?" Aamira asked. "Does this storm have anything to do with why everyone woke up from some sort of dream they can't remember?"

Noctowl nodded. "All pokemon can sense aura to some degree. Riolu and Lucario just happen to be a little better at it. Lucario can even control it. Last night there was a surge of aura that invaded every pokemon who was fast asleep, giving them all that dream. Another surge of aura is what woke them up and made them forget about it."

"Oh, I remember meeting someone along the way here." Aamira decided not to say that it had been a ghost. "She said that there was a pokemon who stole Uxie's power to erase memories and that the pokemon was using that power to erase certain memories that he didn't want people to have. Maybe that first surge of aura was unintentional and that dream was an accident, so he erased everyone's memories?"

"That's a good theory." Noctowl said. "Unfortunately, that doesn't solve our current situation. Without any way to stop the rain, plants all over will die from lack of sun and overwatering. And you can't think that it's raining all over. In the north, near Glacies, I'm sure that they're dealing with heavy snow and hail."

It was at this moment that something peculiar happened. A roar, not too unlike the one that had interrupted their dreams, came echoing through the storm. Aamira got a horrible ringing in her ears and clutched her head from a sudden pain in her temples.

She noticed that Noctowl had winced a bit more than would be expected from such a wise and powerful pokemon. Whatever had just happened was about as normal as this storm.

Then there was a sudden light and warmth. The two of them ran to the window. The sun was shining brightly. The weather was suddenly beautiful, aside from the humidity.

"Well isn't this something." Noctowl said. "A third surge of aura canceled out the second. Do you remember any more of your dream?"

Aamira tried to remember. "That blue eyed pokemon I saw before in my dreams was giving missions to some pokemon. He was asking Honchkrow about my music box. Then he told Murkrow to capture Jirachi and told Raichu to capture Ruko. Then Raikou appeared. I think he was in a lot of pain. His eyes started glowing. I think that first roar must have come from Raikou."

"How terrible!" Noctowl said. "It would seem that this mysterious pokemon you mentioned was using Raikou's power to amplify his own power. It would undoubtedly cause a great deal of pain. I doubt that anyone could fully recover from something like that. Raikou on his own would increase his power greatly, but if this pokemon got hold of Entei and Suicune also… It would be a catastrophe."

"Suicune's in danger then!" Aamira said. "He's already been unsealed from his treasure, so this pokemon would go after him next, wouldn't he?"

"But don't forget, he also mentioned Jirachi. This is even more worrying."

"How so?"

"Did you forget about what happens to Jirachi at the end of the week when the comet is about to disappear for another thousand years?"

"Jirachi sends something like a signal to the comet, then he absorbs some of its power, right?"

"An immense amount of power." Noctowl said grimly. "You must get back to Chalybs and protect Jirachi! But before you do, I'll give you a list of tasks that might be able to set you in the right direction. After Jirachi returns to another thousand year slumber, you and Quill should head to Ignis for the Spring Festival. You'll be a little early, obviously. This will give you time to find Heatran. Then proceed to Moltres's temple. After awakening Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos should sense it and come to you as fast as they can. Entei, of course, will be able to use your aura on his own to break out of his own treasure. Then you'll be able to warn him about what happened to Raikou. Because of the bond between the three of them, Suicune should already know so you shouldn't worry about warning him."

"What will happen after that?" Aamira asked.

"I'm not sure. Of course these tasks are just to keep you on the right track. If there are other things the two of you need to do, then don't worry about straying from the list."

Aamira walked to the door. "Thanks, Noctowl. I told Quill that I wouldn't be too long, so I should get going."

"Be careful on your way back." Noctowl said.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Aamira said. "That person I met on the way here said that the name of the legend that the prophecy comes from has something to do with three heroes. I think besides Quill and I, Lucario must have something to do with it too. Do you know anything about this?"

"I'm afraid I don't." Noctowl said. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you out more."

Aamira nodded. "Okay. I thought I would ask just to make sure." She walked out and started running back to Chalybs to warn Jirachi. She was worried a bit about Ruko too, but she knew that Ruko was really strong in spite of his age. He wouldn't have any problems fighting someone like Raichu.

Aamira remembered vividly the time Raichu had told her not to get in his way when they were fighting Honchkrow. When Aamira accidentally did get in his way, Raichu shocked both of them with the most powerful electric attack that she had ever felt.

Aamira suddenly stopped running. Something seemed to be floating just on the edge of her thoughts. She kept trying to think, as if reaching out to it. Then she realized what it was. One of the reasons she didn't like thunderstorms was because she had been hit by lightning! She might have not been able to remember it exactly, but she vaguely remembered the feeling because of when Raichu zapped her.

Feeling unbelievably triumphant from this small detail, Aamira started running past her top speed back to the Inn where Quill was still staying.

Back at Town Hall, Noctowl was busily scanning a certain page of a rather large and old book. There was a knock on the door and Alakazam came in.

"You didn't tell her?" he asked Noctowl.

"The three of them are supposed to figure it out on their own." Noctowl said to Alakazam. "Before, the three of them were the Guardian, the Balance, and the Secret Keeper. Of course none of them ever knew what this meant. I'm afraid your initial judgment about Aamira was correct. Normally we wouldn't be able to trust her. But considering her amnesia, she has no idea who she used to be. We're safe for now. But there's another thing. Aamira thought the secret she kept was that she would disappear at the end of their mission in Desolo. Of course, we know better. The secret she's keeping might end up destroying us if she can't remember it."

Alakazam stared out the window into the direction that Aamira had run in. "Considering who she used to be, it might end up destroying us if she can."

Noctowl nodded. "If that's the case, we have to protect our world. It isn't known what's written in this prophecy, even in the book quite a bit of it has been worn with time. If it turns out that Aamira, Quill, and Lucario are actually meant to destroy our world, they will have to go."

Noctowl looked back to the book he had been reading. At the top of the page was what appeared to be the title of a chapter. "Three Heroes and Banes of Reality." Noctowl closed the book and walked over to the window. On the cover of the book was the Aura Reader's symbol.


	24. Chapter 24 Gardevoir and Chatot

Aamira collapsed as soon as she returned to Chalybs. Of course, what did she expect after running all that way? She woke up a few hours later in her room in the Inn. Aron, Quill, and Jirachi were all sitting on the floor and playing a card game. Apparently Jirachi had just made a really good move because he started laughing excitedly and doing flips in the air while Quill and Aron both groaned disappointedly.

"Hey you three…" Aamira struggled to sit up. Apparently she wasn't too badly hurt or they would have stopped her. "So what's going on?"

"I just won 5,000 poke!" Jirachi said.

Aamira looked at him a bit surprised. "Wait, you're playing poker?"

Jirachi laughed. "Things were a lot different a thousand years ago. Five thousand years ago or so, you would think this was a different world all together. I've met humans before, even befriended some. I learned some card games from them too."

"That's… kind of cool…" Aamira said.

"Hey, I know another game we can play!" Jirachi said to Quill and Aron.

"NO!" They both said at the same time.

"Relax, it's just a fun game. No winning, no losing. It's just for fun!"

"That sounds okay, I guess…" Aron said timidly.

"Aamira, you play too!" Jirachi said.

"Okay, I guess…" Aamira got up and sat on the ground.

Jirachi took the deck of cards and shuffled them for a while. Okay, so here's how it works. We each draw a card and depending on what number we draw, we have to tell a scary story with a scariness we think matches that number. So an ace would be a normal, every day story, and a king would be the scariest story imaginable."

"Sounds simple enough." Aamira said. "I don't really believe in ghost stories though."

"Sure you don't." Jirachi said sarcastically.

"I-I'm not sure about this…" Aron said timidly. "I kind of… scare easily."

Jirachi laughed. "This will be extra fun then, won't it?" Aron gulped in fear. "I'll go first!" Jirachi drew a card. The three of diamonds. "Aww! A three? That stinks… Oh well." He thought for a moment. "A long time ago there was a story of a horrible black forest. The trees were alive, but for some reason, no light could even get close to the forest. How the forest stayed alive was a mystery. People would say that they would hear strange noises coming from the forest. Footsteps and whispers and things like that. Then one day the forest was cut down. The source of the noise… WAS A FAMILY OF LOUDRED!"

Aron nearly jumped two feet in the air. Jirachi had said the last part of the story with such force that even it being a family of Loudred ended up being a little scarier. At least, to Aron it did.

"Me next!" Quill said. He picked up a card from the deck. "What! An ace! So I guess I just tell an ordinary story then?" Jirachi nodded. "Okay, then. How about the time I met Aamira?"

"Not this again…" Aamira laid back on the floor. She had heard Quill tell this story to so many people that it had become boring by now."

"It was the day of the final exams. Aipom woke me up early as usual and I rushed around to get to school. But right before my presentation, I got nervous and nearly set the school on fire. I felt so ashamed. Noctowl told me that going to Shroud Lake might help me clear my head. It was there that I noticed a pokemon collapsed by the lake. It was Aamira. When she woke up she told me that she couldn't remember a thing about her past except that she had once been a human. After telling this to Noctowl, the two of us formed Team Sleuth together, with no idea what we were getting ourselves into."

"That's a nice story, at least." Aron said.

"My turn, I guess?" Aamira took a card from the top of the deck. "Five. I wasn't going to tell anyone this story because it seemed a little too hard to believe. I was there and I don't even believe it. In fact, it happened on the way to Sylva." Aron was already shaking, wondering how scary a fifth level scary story would be. "I was on my way there when the rain became so bad that I stopped to let my fur dry in a stone cave that someone had made. But I wasn't the only one in there. There was a Nidoqueen in there also who had apparently made the cave. She said she was waiting for Nidoking to come back. We started talking. She told me the most remarkable things. It took me a while, but I finally found out that she was an Aura Reader. Though now I'm not too sure. You see, I decided it was time I got going, so I left, but before I left she had mentioned my name without me ever telling her what it was."

Aron was shaking nervously.

"That's not a big deal…" Quill said. "We're somewhat famous, you know?"

"I didn't think about that back then, but the really weird part happened when I turned to ask her where she heard my name. The cave was gone. In its place was a tombstone. Written on it was, 'In memory of Nidoqueen, who died on this spot while waiting in a storm for Nidoking to return'."

The three of them just stared at her, obviously trying to tell whether or not she was making this up.

"Your turn, Aron!" Jirachi said.

Aron reached his shaky hand towards the cards. 'Please be a low number!' he thought desperately, though obviously not desperately enough. He turned it over. "A KING? No way…"

"Ooh! You've gotta do it!" Jirachi said. "Come on! You can think of something!"

"Well, there is this one story…" Aron said. "But it's so creepy. I start feeling all panicked every time I think about it."

"That's perfect!" Quill said. "Too bad we didn't do this during the storm. It would have been so much more dramatic."

"Yea, tell us the story." Aamira said.

"Well, okay." Aron said. "According to legend, near the northern border of Chalybs, there's an old abandoned mansion that a wealthy pokemon once lived in, by the name of Gardevoir. In a way, this story is a bit similar to Aamira's only instead of waiting for her husband, she would wait day after day for her son Ralts to come home. But he never did.

"Gardevoir became frantic. She was getting so old, but her last wish was to see her son for one last time before her time came. Apparently she started studying dark magic and curses, things most pokemon doubt even exists. But she had no way of knowing that her son had died years before. She waited without purpose. People passing by the house would hear the haunted melody of an old piano. She was senile by this point. Any children who wandered into the house she would confuse for her dear Ralts, and few were lucky enough to be able to escape. The pokemon forced to stay there were put under the mansion's curse themselves. Eventually, the mysterious source of Gardevoir's magic was used up. The trapped spirits were released, but Gardevoir was forced to live there for all of eternity since she was the one who originally cast the curse.

"However, there was one pokemon who had also been turned into a ghost by the curse who chose to stay with Gardevoir. A bird pokemon, whose name had long been forgotten. He didn't stay out of pity or because he was forced, he stayed because he knew that Gardevoir, even as a ghost, would continue to search for Ralts. The pokemon knew that she no longer confused every pokemon she saw for her son, but that he could at least act as a replacement. He would keep anyone from getting in the house, and he would keep Gardevoir from leaving. He sacrificed his entire being to make sure no pokemon would ever again fall under that wicked curse. But since Gardevoir can't leave the house, she can't find her way to the other side. Unless she does, the bird pokemon's ghost will also remain imprisoned, for he refuses to leave Gardevoir alone. So the two of them are trapped together to this very day, their souls never to find peace. Lots of people know the story and even now even the greatest of Investigation Teams don't dare to approach the house for fear of Gardevoir's curse."

Jirachi and Quill were both staring at Aron. Aamira didn't seem to be able to keep a straight face because she was laughing so hard.

"What's so funny? That was a good story!" Quill said.

"Ghosts aren't real!" Aamira said. "I bet Metang and his team just told you that to scare you!"

Aron blushed.

"You can be kinda mean sometimes." Quill said. "You said ghosts aren't real, but what about Nidoqueen?"

"I don't know what that was all about, but I'm sure ghosts don't really exist!"

"Ooh, you know what?" Jirachi said. "I bet Aamira here is afraid of ghosts! I bet she's putting on a tough act so we don't know the truth!"

"Well there are ghost type pokemon, but actual ghosts are completely different." Aamira said. "Where's the proof? They don't exist."

"I-I've got proof." Aron said. "That mansion still exists… Metang dared me to go inside, but I chickened out. I didn't think the mansion existed either until I saw it. It had this weird eerie feel to it. It was cursed."

"Fine." Aamira said. "I'll take Metang's dare! I'll go in to the mansion myself and prove there's no such thing as ghosts!"

Aron shook his head furiously. "No, that's not what I meant! I was just going to show you the mansion! Please don't go in it. If you do you'll be cursed!"

"Ha. Cursed. As if." Aamira said. "Come on, then. Show us where this mansion is!"

"Oh fine, but please don't go in it or we might never see you again!" Aron said.

"Relax." Quill said. "As Investigators, we've solved tons of mysteries. Sometimes stories like this are true, and sometimes they're not. I say we let Aamira try it. If the story is true, that bird pokemon should keep her from entering. If it's not, she'll be able to enter, but since it's not true the curse won't be real and she won't be affected."

"What about you?" Aamira asked Quill.

"I'll stay with these two." Quill said. "Jirachi had problems staying awake sometimes and if Aron gets attacked he won't stand much of a chance. Jirachi's still a legendary pokemon, you know? If someone does come after them like you said right before you collapsed, someone has to stay with them."

Aamira nodded. Normally if someone had said something like this, she would have questioned their bravery, but this was Quill. Maybe he would have been too scared in the beginning, but his reasoning on whether the curse is real or not proved he wasn't that same old superstitious scardy cat that he used to be.

Aron led them to the farthest edge of Chalybs. There was a mess of old, overgrown trees and weeds all over. It certainly looked like no one had been there in ages. Aamira stepped through the overgrown plants and found the mansion. It didn't look haunted. In fact, it looked really nice.

It seemed to have been freshly painted white. It was at least seven stories tall. On one of the floors there was a long window. That must have been the dining hall. All of the other windows had light green shutters on them with fancy ornate carvings. Above the massive door was a large balcony. It probably would have been an amazing view from up there.

Well, it didn't seem haunted. In fact, it seemed almost inviting. Aamira took a step forward and jumped in surprise. Someone inside was playing a piano. It couldn't really be haunted. Someone must have still lived there.

Aamira walked up the steps to the door and pulled on the metal ring doorknobs. The door swung open slowly and Aamira stepped inside. She was in the foyer and there were steps leading to the left and right and a door in the center. Following the sound, she headed up the stairs on the left, through a few corridors, and up some more stairs. She was nearly there. A bunch of Zubat appeared and flew after her.

Aamira used Force Palm to knock them out of the air. Luckily they weren't too strong.

'I doubt those Zubat could have been the flying types that Aron mentioned.' She thought to reassure herself. 'After all, he did say there was only one. A Gardevoir living in a mansion like this would probably prefer something a little more majestic, like Honchkrow. Or maybe something really colorful. Besides, Zubat are bound to have made their homes in old places like this.'

The sound of the piano drew closer as Aamira walked through the old mansion. She looked up at the paintings and remembered old stories of paintings with eyes that followed people. She stood in front of a painting and waved her hand in front of it, but it remained as still as ever.

Aamira moved on to another picture. Was she just imagining it, or did this one have an extra set of eyes? Aamira looked closer at the pair of eyes that were hardly there. She jumped back in surprise as something rushed towards her from the painting. Aamira shrieked and fell backwards. Above her the little ghastly laughed maniacally before disappearing through the wall and going back to its home behind the painting.

"Haunted!" Aamira said. "Yea, haunted by ghost-type pokemon, that's for sure! This place is as bad as an actual dungeon!" She continued to mutter irritably to herself until she found the door that the music was coming from.

Aamira was about to knock before the door swung open on its own. 'Just a draft.' She thought. But she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw what was on the other side of the door.

Aron couldn't take his eyes away from the old mansion. It scared him so much. It haunted his dreams.

"Do you think Aamira's alright?" He asked in a worried tone.

"Don't you worry about her." Quill said. "She's reckless at times, but she can usually get out of bad situations. And if she can't, I come to her rescue."

"Ooh look!" Jirachi was pointing up at the sky. It was nightfall. It had only taken Aamira a day to run to Vine City and back. "Isn't the Millennium Comet just amazing tonight?"

"It sure is!" Aron said. "I'm so lucky to have been able to see it. Even luckier to be your friend, Jirachi."

Jirachi smiled happily, though also seemed a bit sad. After all, just five more days and Jirachi would have to go back to sleep for another thousand years. At least they still had time.

"Hey, what's that?" Quill looked away from the comet and up at the old mansion. For a moment he thought for sure he had heard the sound of a piano playing and the slight ticking of a metronome. "Heh. Probably just Aamira messing around trying to scare us. She can play the piano too."

"I don't hear anything." Aron said nervously.

"Nor do I." Jirachi said.

"Huh?" Quill looked between the two of them and then up towards the mansion again. They didn't hear it? It wasn't the first time someone wasn't able to hear something that he could.

"The answers you seek will come soon enough, my friend." A Murkrow flew down in front of them. "Maybe sooner if you step out of the way and let me take that Jirachi back with me."

Aron screamed and hid behind Quill. No doubt he thought this Murkrow was the bird pokemon from the story, but Quill had already met this Murkrow.

"The Black Talon. You know, that's what they call you now that everyone knows who you really are." Quill said.

"Such an endearing name! I love it!" Murkrow said. "How about I make a deal with you? You help me bring this Jirachi back, and I'll tell you what's happening to you. You'll have to join us eventually. It's written, after all."

"What?" Did Murkrow know something about that prophecy? "How about this instead? I punch that beak of yours off and you tell me what you know about the prophecy!"

"Oh, how violent! That's not very nice at all! Anyway, I doubt I could tell you anything without my beak. No matter. You will join us eventually. For now, that Jirachi is coming with me!"

"You think I'll go down without a fight!" Jirachi said. "Bring it on, bird brain!"

Murkrow started singing an ominous song. Quill didn't hear much of it because of the sound of the piano coming from the mansion. Jirachi and Aron both shrieked and fainted. Jirachi was still conscious, but just barely.

"Aww! My Perish Song didn't affect you! Oh well. I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way."

"I'm sorry to have barged into your house." Aamira said to the Gardevoir at the piano. "One of my friends said that this house was haunted, so I wanted to prove it wasn't. I never expected that someone would still live here."

Gardevoir stopped playing and looked up at her. "Yes, I understand. This sort of thing happens a lot. A rumor pops up here and there. That story isn't too old, actually. My dear Ralts did leave me, but there is no curse involved."

"I understand. So someone made up that story. I guess you don't get many visitors then."

Gardevoir looked down sadly at her piano. "There was a time when many pokemon were lured here by the sound of my playing. They would come from all over and I would teach them how to play. But they all stopped coming when that rumor started. You're the first to visit in a long time. You see, I would ask pokemon to become my piano students to fill the void when Ralts left."

"That's why people thought there was a curse. It was your piano that lured them in. Not some sort of magic."

Gardevoir laughed. "If my piano is a spell, then it looks like you've fallen under my 'curse' after all!"

Aamira laughed. "But that song you were playing. I vaguely remember it. Isn't it meant for two pianos? Not very good with only one person playing."

Gardevoir smiled. "Ralts used to play with me. He was very good. He would play that piano there." She turned to the piano behind her. "It's called Breloom's sonata in D major. You seem to know your piano music. Do you know how to play?"

"Yea, but wouldn't it be hard for two people to play in sync without a metronome?" Aamira asked.

"I've got that covered. Come over here and see." Gardevoir said.

Aamira walked around the piano. It was blocked from view by the piano before, but now she could see the colorful little bird sitting on a perch between the two pianos.

"This is my friend Chatot. When he moves his tail back and forth, it sounds like a metronome. Show her, Chatot."

Chatot's tail started moving back and fourth, making a small ticking noise that did sound a lot like a metronome.

"So this is that bird pokemon from that story?" Aamira asked. "Hardly looks intimidating."

Gardevoir laughed. "Yes. The bird pokemon that protects the house and supposedly keeps me lock away in here. Chatot couldn't harm a Caterpie. Even if he wanted to. I'm not sure why, but he's unable to use any attacks. He can't even speak. A Chatot who can't speak. Now isn't that something?"

"Yea, I guess it is." Aamira said. "It's certainly unusual, at least, but if that curse was real he would have stopped me from coming in here, wouldn't he?"

Aamira sat at the other piano and started playing the song with Gardevoir, both of them being kept in time by Chatot acting as a metronome. Aamira suddenly remembered Daisy, her little silent Banette friend. Daisy couldn't talk, just like Chatot and when they first met Daisy wanted Aamira to play the piano and even brought her a metronome. Now that she thought about it, she had never seen Daisy use an attack before. Aamira wondered why that was.

Quill was barely standing now. This one Murkrow was pretty strong compared to the others.

"Just give it up. I'm only here for the Jirachi, though I'm sure my master will be even more pleased if I brought you back with me." Murkrow said.

Quill struggled to stay on his feet. He was standing between Aron, Jirachi, and Murkrow so Murkrow couldn't get to them. The sound of the haunting piano kept him from being effected by Perish Song, but Murkrow was still able to beat him up quite a bit.

"I… I won't give up!" Quill said weakly.

"Face it. Without your friend Aamira, you're nothing. You couldn't even form an Investigation Team without her help!" At first, Murkrow thought he had imagined it. The fire on Quill's back was glowing brighter, even though it didn't look any bigger than before. The only explanation was that it was just getting hotter. It turned a bright yellow and then turned a scorching blue color, the color only the hottest of fires can get to.

Murkrow backed away in fear, but he didn't want to abandon his mission. Quill's whole body started glowing white like hot embers aside from the fire on his back, which still burned blue. Quill attacked with Eruption, but the attack was more powerful than he could have ever imagined one of his attacks to be. He couldn't control it at all. Fire and lava was going everywhere, barely missing Aron and Jirachi and badly hurting Murkrow.

Murkrow was knocked unconscious and was badly burned all over. Quill was getting dizzy. He hadn't really realized what had happened. He fell to the ground unconscious just like Murkrow.

"I should really get going." Aamira said. "My friends are waiting for me outside. I'll tell them that there's no such thing as a curse."

"Thank you." Gardevoir said.

Aamira made her way back through the house. Somehow it seemed a lot darker than it did before. She noticed a few pieces of broken furniture here and there and that some of the curtains were torn. She walked out and made her way back to Quill and the others.

Jirachi, Aron, and a badly hurt Quill were all sitting on the ground talking. Murkrow was still unconscious when Aamira arrived.

"What happened here?" Aamira asked.

"We'll tell you later." Jirachi said. "What about that old house? Is it haunted or not?"

"Haunted by ghost type pokemon. I ran into a Ghastly, but that's it. But Gardevoir isn't a ghost. That story is just a rumor, and a recent one too. She lives there and she does want to see her son again, but she's not a ghost. And that bird pokemon was a Chatot who acts as her metronome when playing the piano." Aamira said.

"I find it hard to believe that anything other than a ghost could actually live in that house." Quill said.

"Why's that?" Aamira asked. "It looks perfectly fine to me. Not even all that old."

"Are we talking about the same house?" Aron asked. "That thing is ancient and falling apart! It's completely uninhabitable!"

"What?" Aamira turned back to the mansion expecting to see the same beautiful house that she had entered, but it was as Aron said. The paint was chipped and barely visible in a lot of places, most of the windows were broken and boarded up, the porch had collapsed, and the shutters on the windows were hanging by their hinges, the ornate wood carvings no longer visible. "But how is this possible? This house looked amazing when I went in…"

"The Ghastly." Jirachi said. "It must have put an illusion on the house to make it seem like it did a long time ago. Gardevoir and Chatot probably weren't real either."

"But if that's true and the illusion was placed over the house…." Quill said uncertainly. "Why is it that only Aamira could see it?"


	25. Chapter 25 The Weather Changer

Jirachi looked up sadly at the Millennium Comet. A few days had already passed. Just three more and Jirachi would have to go back to sleep for another thousand years.

'It's not fair.' Jirachi thought. 'This always happens and there's no reason for it. I'm so grateful for what Acuity did for me, but what's the point of being able to wake up every thousand years if it means I just have to go back to sleep and all of my friends will be gone when I wake up again? Aron seems so timid and he's one of the best friends I've ever had. I don't want to leave him.'

"There you are!"

Jirachi turned around. It was Aamira.

"Oh, hey." Jirachi said. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you." Aamira said. "You know, Quill and Aron are becoming pretty close friends too, but Aron wants to spend as much time with you as he can before the comet leaves so I came looking for you. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just… thinking. You're right though. I should be spending more time with my friends." Jirachi started to follow Aamira, but then he suddenly got so dizzy that it made him feel sick and it felt like everything was spinning around him. He wobbled in the air for a few seconds before falling.

"Jirachi! Are you alright?" Aamira ran towards him. He looked too dizzy to even reply to her.

Aamira picked him up and carried him on her back down to Aron's house.

Aamira had begun to like Chalybs. The crystals that filled the cave looked like stars. Maybe it was because this was the steel country and her evolved form was a steel type, but she really liked it here. Though there was something about being underground that kind of felt unnatural to her. She was sure that Riolu usually lived in the mountains. Compared to being high above the sea level, being underground was probably the opposite.

She had become used to the tunnels. Sometimes she would leave Jirachi, Aron, and Quill to go explore some of the older caves that no one really visited anymore, some of which had collapsed and no one but really small pokemon could get through. Compared to this labyrinth, finding Aron's house had become pretty easy.

She finally found it and ran in as fast as she could to find Aron and Quill enjoying a late dinner. "Guys, we have a problem!"

"Jirachi!" Aron immediately jumped up when he saw something was wrong with his friend. "Oh no, what's wrong?"

"I don't know." Aamira said. "I don't know where the hospital is in this city."

"Wait here, I'll go to find Chansey." Aron ran off before Quill or Aamira could say anything.

Aamira laid Jirachi down on his bed in the back of the house. He seemed really dazed and unable to really tell where he was.

"I wonder what's going on." Quill said. "But did you see Aron? He's been so timid this whole time we were here, but when Jirachi got sick he suddenly became all brave like that. He seems to really want to help people, doesn't he?"

"Yea." Aamira smirked. "He sort of reminds me of another little pokemon I met once."

"Huh? Who's that?" Quill asked.

"He was always really timid. Even when he found a friend, though apparently that friend of his really helped him to become brave. He's now one of the bravest pokemon I've ever met, in spite of once getting so nervous that he almost burned his school down."

Quill laughed. "Oh come on! I was never that timid!"

Aamira smiled "Yea, you were! Don't you remember? Especially whenever Crawdaunt and Croconaw showed up. You'd freeze up and wouldn't be able to defend yourself at all. But like I said, you're a lot braver than most of the pokemon I know. When you found out about some weird ability that you have, you just wondered what was going on. Most pokemon would freak out and have a panic attack."

"You think so?" Quill asked. "It was helpful, I guess, but I almost hurt Jirachi and Aron apparently. Remember, I told you. I don't remember a thing about it. Jirachi was barely conscious at the time and he saw what happened. I started glowing and my fire turned blue, then I used Eruption. I guess I might have leveled up and learned Eruption, but I don't understand why I started glowing. I think the only reason I'm not panicking because of this is because I can't remember what happened."

"That's weird. If it were me, that would make me panic more." Aamira said.

"Anyway, what about Nidoqueen and Gardevoir? You know they were really ghosts, whether you try to deny it or not."

Aamira sighed. "Okay, I'll admit it's possible, but it's not like I'm just going to suddenly start seeing ghosts out of nowhere. It's theorized that ghosts walk everywhere, but if that's true, why have I never seen any before and why have I only seen two now?"

"What about when I see legendary pokemon but they're apparently not there?" Quill asked.

"That's different." Aamira said. "We don't know what that's about, but they're not ghosts! We've seen most of those pokemon, remember?"

"Well, yea, but—."

He was interrupted when Chansey and Aron entered.

"Oh, this looks serious." Chansey rushed over to Jirachi and started to take his temperature. "He definitely seems really sick. How could something like this happen so suddenly?"

"It's not… fair…" Jirachi managed to say. "Whatever's going on… I only have… A few more days… I can't… get sick…"

"It can't be helped." Chansey said. "It's probably just a twenty-four hour flu. They can be very sudden, but usually go away fairly quickly."

"N-No… That's not it…" Jirachi said. "Lord Palkia is injured…"

"Palkia?" Aamira asked. "The deity legendary pokemon who controls space?"

"Space? Like where Jirachi comes from?" Aron asked. "Is that why Jirachi is getting sick like this?"

"Maybe." Quill said. "But if Palkia is a deity like Aamira said, what could possibly be able to hurt it?"

"Can't figure it out?" Aamira asked. "Another deity, of course. Probably Dialga, who governs time. If that's the case, I bet Celebi probably isn't feeling too good right now either."

"Shouldn't we try to do something about this? Especially if Dialga and Palkia are legendary pokemon." Quill said.

Aamira nodded.

"Sphere Pillar…" Jirachi said. "I know where… It is… In the country… ruled by dragons."

"Incendia Anhelo?" Quill asked. "I remember how tough that country was from when Latias hatched and I went with Ambipom to try to find Latios."

"You can lead us there?" Aamira asked Jirachi. He nodded. "Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine." Jirachi sat up. He was shaking a little. "I was just in shock from what happened… I think I'm starting to… get better now…"

"I'm coming too!" Aron said. "I want to help Jirachi. And, besides, there's only… a few days left…" Some tears formed in Aron's eyes and Aamira and Quill didn't argue.

"Well, since you're alright." Chansey said. "I'd suggest you rest for the rest of the night. Be sure to have breakfast and drink plenty of water so you don't get dehydrated."

"Yes, ma'am." Jirachi said.

The next morning everyone got up really early to get ready. Quill and Aamira were used to getting ready for long travels and missions of various difficulties, but Aron had never been out on an Investigation before. It was kind of funny the way he kept running around making sure he didn't forget anything important.

"You know, I think I do remember acting like this about a year ago…" Quill said uncertainly. "It seems so long ago now."

Aamira laughed. She thought it was kind of cute the way Aron reminded her of Quill so much. Kind of like a younger more childish version of Quill.

"Hurry up!" Jirachi said while eating an apple.

"Don't you need to get some stuff together? It's best to be prepared." Quill said to Jirachi.

"I'm a legendary pokemon. I've been through more bad situations than you can count. Nothing to worry about." Jirachi said proudly.

The four of them left for the dragon country as soon as they were sure they were ready. (Meaning, when Aamira finally decided to make a check list and assure Aron that he hadn't forgotten anything.) Aron looked really excited when he stepped out of his country for the first time. After a while the excitement started to wear down and he would start to constantly complain about being tired and the four of them would stop to rest. Quill seemed a little annoyed, but Aamira and Jirachi didn't mind.

"Look, it's not that bad." Aamira said later that evening. "We've covered a lot of ground. You can even see the mountains from here. We'll be there by noon tomorrow."

"Noon tomorrow?" Jirachi asked. "You know I'm kind of hard pressed for time here."

"I'm so sorry, Jirachi…" Aron said. "You only have two days left and then you'll have to go back to sleep. If it wasn't for me we would be there by now…"

"It's no big deal." Jirachi lied. "Just get some sleep. We should all try resting up for tomorrow. Who knows what we'll have to face?"

Everyone was asleep except Jirachi. He was laying awake, though pretending to sleep in case anyone woke up and started asking questions. He didn't want to go back to sleep out of fear that if he did go to sleep he wouldn't wake up again for another thousand years.

He heard someone tossing around and muttering. Judging by the voice, it was Aamira. He heard her get up and walk off somewhere. Jirachi was curious as to what she could be doing at this time of night. He got up and followed her.

Jirachi found Aamira laying under a tree in a nearby clearing. She was staring up at the stars and the Millennium Comet. She seemed to be in deep thought about something.

"What are you doing up at this time?" Jirachi asked her.

"Can't sleep." Aamira said. "I have a bit of a problem with nightmares. Sometimes I can't remember them. They're sometimes about this lake called the Eye of the Moon, sometimes about a burning city, but in either dream there's usually a blue eyed pokemon there. I feel like I've met it before, but I can never tell what it looks like aside from the eyes."

"Blue eyes don't narrow it down much." Jirachi said.

"Normally I'd ask why you're up at this time, but considering your head is shaped like a star I don't think I'll bother."

Jirachi laughed and then his smiled faded. "I just don't want to go back to sleep. Aron is a great friend, you know?"

"I know. More than you can imagine, actually." Aamira said.

"What do you mean?" Jirachi sat down in the grass next to her.

"Aron acts a lot like Quill used to when I first met him. At first I couldn't stand him because he seemed to be able to read my mind, but then we became so close we were like brother and sister. But then I found out that we were involved in a legend about saving the world. But the only way it could really be saved was if I used my powers to fix the Looking Glass and restore balance. But it would take up all of my energy and I would vanish. I was scared of dying, but even more than that I didn't want to leave Quill all alone."

"What happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure. But I'll tell you I was terrified. I realized that we would both die along with everyone else if I didn't go through with it but I was still scared and I couldn't tell Quill. He encouraged me though, and gave me the strength I needed to keep going. I remember disappearing and the last time I saw Quill. Then it seems like only a few days later I was back again, waking up to Quill's voice like when I first met him. It turns out that months had actually passed since I disappeared, but I was back. I still don't know why though."

"So you sacrificed yourself for Quill and everyone else. It's kind of the same for me, I guess. Whenever I take some energy from the Millennium Comet and I go back to sleep, the energy is released into the earth to help everything on it grow. If I don't go back to sleep, who knows what would happen. But if it's for Aron, I think I can do it again."

"You've been in pain all day, haven't you? You just didn't want Aron to worry about you."

"You could tell?" Jirachi asked guiltily.

"Aron is a bit inexperienced, but I think Quill noticed too. You're a kindhearted person. Even if you do wake up a thousand years from now in a world we don't know about, I hope you never stop being such a kind person."

Jirachi nodded. "I hope the last day of the festival is the same as always though. It's really fun. On the last night, right before I go back to sleep, everyone writes down their name and a wish on a piece of paper and hang them from the tree. Then in the morning after I go back to sleep, if the paper was blown off the tree it means your wish will come true."

"Can you really grant wishes?" Aamira asked skeptically.

"What do you think? Isn't it more fun to play along and think that maybe it might be true, regardless if it is or not?" Jirachi smirked.

"So you don't grant wishes?"

"Why should I ruin the fun? I'm not just going tell you just like that. Figure out what you want to believe in; that's all I can say."

"I think we've both learned a lot tonight."

Jirachi shook his head. "Typical Aura Readers." He paused and looked up in the sky. "But, I guess you're right."

The next morning both Aamira and Quill could tell that Jirachi was feeling worse, but as long as he didn't say anything they wouldn't say anything either. It's not like they had any way to help him other than getting to Incendia Anhelo as soon as possible, so the best thing was to keep going.

"I can't keep going." It wasn't even noon and they were already in the mountains. Jirachi was slowing down though so they stopped for a moment.

"Are you alright?" Aron said. "You know you're going to make yourself sick if you keep going like this."

"Wait, so you could tell too?" Jirachi asked Aron.

"Of course I could tell." Aron said. "People should know when their friends need help; it's only natural. That's why I kept wanting to stop yesterday. I wasn't really tired, or at least I was still strong enough to keep going, but I was worried about you, Jirachi."

"Aron, I'm sorry for worrying you…" Jirachi said with tears in his eyes. "We need to keep going though. Something's really wrong with Palkia."

"But you're in pain." Aamira said. "I don't know much about medicine or anything, but if you keep going like this you could go into shock."

"Aamira's right." Quill said. "We need to figure something out."

"Try this!" A cheerful voice from behind Quill and Aamira said. The pokemon behind them threw a pearl-like orb to Jirachi. He floated into the air a little. He didn't seem to be in so much pain.

"Celebi, is that you?" Quill asked.

Sure enough, it was Celebi.

"Yup. It's been a while, you two." He said. "Jirachi was awake and I was starting to feel pains and figured that something was wrong with Dialga. I thought Jirachi must be hurting too. Since it would take another deity like Palkia to hurt Dialga."

"Time and space!" Aamira said. "Wow. That actually makes sense."

"The Adamant and Lustrous orbs negate the effects of Time and Space distortions so we don't feel pain when we're holding them." Celebi said. "Anyway, it's been a while, Jirachi."

"It sure has!" Jirachi said to Celebi. "It's nice to know that no matter how long I'm asleep, I'll always have one friend here."

"Yup." Celebi nodded.

"But wow, you two must really get around to know Celebi too." Aron said. "I wish I was a member of an Investigation Team…"

"So are you coming with us?" Quill asked Celebi.

"Actually I came here to meet up with the four of you." Celebi said. "I've already been to Incendia Anhelo. I met up with a pretty important pokemon too. She's the one that got rid of that storm a while back."

"Really? The pokemon that did that lives here?" Quill asked. "She must me strong."

"Yup." Celebi said. "Her name is Dragonair. And get this! She's Dragonite's younger sister!"

"I didn't know he had a sister!" Quill said. "Wow, that's so cool!"

"Kindness seems to run in the family too." Celebi said. "Well, let's get going. You shouldn't have too much trouble getting there from this point on since we're right on the border.

The four-pokemon team followed Celebi into the dragon pokemon country. The altitude was unbelievable. They were above the clouds and yet it was still nice and warm. The view was amazing. Mountains in every direction, forests in the distance, and the light breeze that they would expect to be really harsh in the mountains.

"Dragonair can control the weather." Celebi said. "She lives in an old wooden shrine and makes sure the weather is regulated from there. It took a lot of power to get rid of that monster of a storm, so now she's a bit tired. Normally she would be the one to investigate what's happening at Sphere Pillar. It looks like the burden's been passed on to us though."

"We've been through a lot." Aamira said. "I'm sure it won't be that big of a problem."

"You ever see two deities fight?" Jirachi asked. "I've seen it only once and let me tell you; it ain't pretty."

"Jirachi's right, you know?" Celebi said. "If only they could get along like we do."

"Why do they fight?" Aron asked.

"I'm not really sure." Celebi said. "I think they both think they're more important. Like a couple of supersized Prinplup, I guess you could say. But it's time and space together that make up the universe. Time and space are like the threads of a fabric. On one side there's horizontal threads and then the vertical threads on the other. Woven together they hold themselves in place. If one frays, then the other does too. That's what makes up the fabric of time space. But they don't get it. They can't stand the thought of considering themselves as equals."

"I can't imagine two pokemon who are so similar fighting like that." Aamira said.

"You can't?" Quill asked. "You and Hunter are both Dark Readers aren't you? So why don't the two of you get along?"

"That's different!" Aamira said. "He hates me and I have no idea why! Plus there's this obsession with power he has! I kind of pity him. He completely let power take over his life. He realized this, but he can't do anything about it. No doubt that he would rather die than ask me for help though. Or anyone else for that matter."

"Well maybe there's a similar situation between Dialga and Palkia." Quill said. "Maybe they really want to help each other, but they keep misunderstanding one another and they end up fighting. If we can figure out why they fight, we could keep them from fighting once and for all."

The ground started shaking under them and Quill and Aamira fell to the ground. Aron seemed used to it, Jirachi could levitate, and Celebi could fly so they didn't have to worry about it as much.

"You two might be in a tight spot here." Jirachi said. "Most of the pokemon around here can fly."

"There have been a lot of tremors lately from Dialga and Palkia's fights." Celebi said. "I hope this ends soon. It's frightening what their power can do."

Quill and Aamira were just standing up when another tremor came. This one was worse that the last one and even knocked Aron to the ground.

"Are you three alright?" Celebi asked. "That time looked like it actually hurt a bit."

The ground was still shaking slightly. The three of them stood up, trying to keep their balance. Suddenly they heard a high pitched, somewhat shrill voice coming from somewhere to their right. "WATCH OUT!" It shouted.

All five of them were pushed out of the way just in time for a huge boulder to miss them.

"Boy, talk about bein' in t'e wrong place at t'e wrong time. You all, I mean. I was obviously in t'e right place, t'ough I t'ink t'at was just lucky."

"Wow it's Flygon!" Celebi said. "You know I've been here a while now and I haven't seen you before. Aren't you the elder of this country?"

"Yea, but no need to get all formal. You should all come back to t'e city before anot'er eart'quake hits. It'll be a lot safer t'ere at least." Flygon said.

"I've never heard an accent like this before…" Quill said. "Are you really from around here?"

"No, no, I come from t'e desert, but t'at's not impor'ant right now. If you two are who I t'ink you are," he was obviously referring to Aamira and Quill, "we could really be usin' yer help."

"Uh, alright…" Aamira could barely understand what he was saying. Something about a desert and that they needed help?

Flygon led then back to capital city, the whole time telling them about the different cities in this country. They all had some really weird names: Fire, Breath, Serpent, Blue, Fang, and Scale.

"Now Fiya is filled wit' Fiya type pokmon, obviously." Flygon was saying. "T'ere's a Charizard t'ere who's actailly a cousin of Charizard from Ignis. T'en t'ere's Serpent. Lotsa water types t'ere. Some Gyarados, Kingdra and a few ot'ers. Blue is one of t'e school citys. It's where t'e younges' kids go to school. Breat' it t'e ot'er one. It's t'e school city for aspirin' Investigation Teams. Fang and Scale are t'e two main citys. Fang is t'e capital, we're headin' t'ere now. Scale is where t'e Weat'er Changers all come from. T'e one before Dragonair was yer buddy Dragonite. O' course, he was a Dragonair himself back t'en. When his younger sister Dratini evolved into Dragonair a long time ago, Dragonite was finally allowed to evolve and he flew t'e coop. Hardly ever comes ta visit. He says he likes t'e open air, but he's always under t'e ground in t'at museum of yers."

"You don't like that Dragonite left? Why's that?" Quill asked.

"I neva said t'at." Flygon said. "T'ough it was a bit rude to just get up and leave like t'at. Left his brot'er and sister behind, never comes to visit t'em, it seem a bit cruel. He promised to look after t'em. As t'e Weat'er Changer Dragonair can' do much to take care of t'eir brother. And for what? Ta be stuck unda ground all day?"

"I don't see what's wrong with being underground…" Aron said timidly.

"Maybe not ta you, but to a flying pokemon it's a bit differen'. Why turn back ta t'e ground when you have t'e freedom of the sky?"

"Hey, didn't someone else we know say something like that?" Aamira asked Quill.

Quill shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Maybe Shaymin? But I don't think so."

"It was turn to the sky and be free from the ground or something." Aamira said. "Where have I heard that before!"

"You mighta just picked it up." Flygon said. "It's an old sayin' here. To all dragon types. It's said t'at Lugia was the first ta say t'at."

"Lugia, huh?" Aamira said. "Now that's a pokemon I wouldn't mind meeting."

"He used ta live in t'e Dragon Shrine in Fang. It's used at t'e home for t'e Weat'er Changer now. Lugia left a long time ago. Somet'in' about a disappearin' island or somet'in'."

A couple more tremors hit before they finally got to Fang. It was a beautiful mountain city in the clouds. There were banzai trees and waterfalls cascading down everywhere you looked. The dragon pokemon made their homes in caves in the mountain sides. It looked like a really peaceful place aside from the tremors, though most of the pokemon didn't seem to be bothered by it. There were even a few pokemon sleeping in the sun just outside of their caves who slept right through the tremors.

"Aw, t'is figures." Flygon said. "The bridge is out. Looks like you'll have ta wait until repairs to get across."

Sure enough, across a small river, there was a collapsed red bridge with some sort of gaits on either side.

"Can't we just ride on a dragon pokemon's back and get across?" Aron asked.

"What!" Flygon said in an offended voice. "Do you know how degradin' t'at is! You can't fly, so you walk!"

"Uh, right… Sorry…" Aron said.

"Oh don't be ridiculous! We're only helping out pokemon in need." Dragonite appeared behind them and lifted Aron, Quill, and Aamira into the air and flew them across the river with Celebi and Jirachi following.

"So you decided ta show up afta all?" Flygon asked. "Well it's about tyme!"

"I don't want to argue with you, Flygon. I'm only here to visit my siblings." Dragonite said. "As for the two of you, it's good to see you again. And it's also nice to meet your new friend too."

Aron seemed to want to say something, but couldn't think of anything.

All of them started walking together, noticing how big their group was becoming.

"So you're visiting Dragonair and Dratini?" Quill asked. "Why didn't you ever tell me you had siblings? That's so cool."

"It's a sad story." Dragonite said. "The pokemon of this country are proud, but a bit contradicting."

"How so?" Aamira asked.

"I'm sure Flygon's mentioned the Weather Changers." Dragonite said. "For thousands of years the pokemon in my family became Weather Changers when they evolved into Dragonair. When a younger member of the family evolves into Dragonair, the older is allowed to evolve into Dragonite so the younger family member can take their place. But until a younger family member evolves, the Dragonair isn't allowed to leave the Dragon Shrine. As a Dratini I wasn't able to fly, so I wanted to evolve into Dragonair so I would be able to. When I evolved I was finally able to fly, but I wasn't allowed to leave the shrine. Flying isn't as fun indoors and in such a small limited area. Flygon would have told you that Dragonair evolved so I was allowed to evolve into Dragonite, but actually I went against tradition and evolved into Dragonite before Dragonair evolved. That led to a lot of trouble since there wasn't a Dragonair to change the weather. It got really cold and windy and it was hard for the pokemon to live here until Dragonair evolved."

"Why couldn't you have just waited?" Jirachi asked.

"Why don't the pokemon in this country hold up to their own beliefs, is the question. They say that as long as a pokemon is able to fly, they should be allowed to fly. Flight is the symbol of freedom to dragons. So for a Dragonair not to be allowed to fly…"

"I get it." Aamira said. "I bet you felt a little cheated because of that. You evolved to be able to fly, but you were locked in a shrine instead."

"Exactly." Dragonite said. "What's even worse is that they would have blamed me for evolving into Dragonite too soon, so I had to leave the country and leave my siblings behind. For the longest time I had no idea how my siblings felt about that. Then when all of the countries leaders gathered in Ignis all that time ago, Flygon told me how much they missed me. I agreed to come back to visit. Eventually."

"So why did you decide to run a museum if you wanted to fly?" Quill asked.

Dragonite smirked. "You might not know this, but my job actually involves a lot of flying and traveling. Shedinja is usually the one to watch after the museum, so I'm free to go wherever I want while still being able to keep my job. Though I also like teaching young children about the history of Investigation Teams, so I'm in the museum pretty often anyway."

"So just having the option to be able to fly is good enough for you." Aamira said. "I understand that. Kind of like when we were stuck in Atra. We couldn't leave, but when we at least had the option to go out into the garden it didn't seem so bad."

"But you were asleep for most of that time anyway, so it's not like that really mattered." Quill said.

"We're here." Dragonite stopped in front of a large wooden shrine. "I never wanted to lay eyes on this place again…"

"Wow, it's a lot bigger than my old shrine for sure." Celebi said.

Dragonite opened the doors and walked in with the others close behind him.

There was the sound of a little kid laughing and some splashing in the water that was in the floor of the shrine. The narrow stone path that led to the center of the shrine was just wide enough for them to walk on. At the center was a blue dragon pokemon who was staring around at the water.

"Uh… Dragonair?" Dragonite said nervously.

Dragonair looked around at him. "Dragonite! You've come back! Dratini, Dragonite is here!"

A pokemon that looked kind of like a smaller version of Dragonair jumped out of the water and landed between Dragonite and Dragonair. "You came back, big brother!" The little pokemon jumped towards Dragonite and Dragonite gave it a hug.

"I'm sorry I left, Dratini. You'll understand why I did someday." Dragonite said.

Dragonair flew towards Dragonite, but seemed to have gotten a little shock and flew back.

"You know you can't leave the center of the shrine." Dragonite said.

"Why did you do this?" Dragonair asked. "You wanted to fly so much that you would leave me to be trapped in here?"

"So you really do hate me for evolving early…" Dragonite said sadly.

"Now hold on a minute!" Aamira shouted. "So you literally can't leave! You're trapped here? Why! Can't you manipulate the weather from anywhere? Why stay trapped in a shrine?"

"She understands us better than most pokemon do." Dragonair said. "I understand that my job is important for pokemon to be able to live here, but to be trapped here… Well I know I have to be so I can concentrate on the weather instead of anything else, but it does get a bit boring at times."

"Why not just move somewhere else?" Aamira asked.

"This was the country where Lugia used to live. Do you think the pokemon who's ancestors lived in the same country as a pokemon as great as Lugia would want to leave?" Dragonite asked.

"That just sounds selfish! You left, and you seem to understand what Flygon was preaching better than he does!" Aamira shouted.

"It's been a while since something got Aamira's temper boiling." Quill said. "It sure does seem rotten to be forced into something like this though. Just for being born you can't leave the shrine…"

"Heh. I know what that's like…" Jirachi said. "It's hard to believe that Flygon is Vibrava's descendant, but I think he is. Vibrava was a friend I made the last time I woke up. He was the one who taught me Draco Meteor…"

"So who are your friends?" Dragonair asked Dragonite.

"I guess you don't hear much about the outside, being stuck in here." Dragonite said. "I forgot what that's like. These two are Aamira and Quill. They're an Investigation Team called Team Sleuth, who saved the world a while back. Jirachi is the legendary pokemon that wakes up only once every thousand years. Aron is Jirachi's friend. Celebi is the legendary time travel pokemon. They came here because of Dialga and Palkia going on a rampage."

"So someone finally decided to come and do something about that." Dragonair said. "I would do something if it wasn't for this shrine."

"This isn't right!" Jirachi said. "I know we came here to stop Dialga and Palkia, but we can't leave Dragonair trapped here. It's just not right! We have to do something about this!"

"I-I've got an idea…" Aron said timidly. "You can change the weather, can't you? And the other pokemon depend on you to make the weather better, don't they? Well what if you do the opposite…?"

"Aron!" Jirachi shouted. "That's so underhanded! Heheh. That's pretty smart!"

"I'd be willing to do it if it meant getting out of here and making sure Dratini doesn't have to be trapped in here when he gets older."

"Yea, I don't want to be stuck in here." Dratini said. "I just stay in here for Dragonair but I could leave if I wanted."

"All about choice…" Aamira said. "It wouldn't seem so bad if you at least had the option to leave. If I could still use Aura Release, I could probably just get you out myself."

"Well I'm tired of this." Dragonair said. "If it means getting out of here, I'll make a monster storm. Of course Flygon will come here to ask about it, so it might work."

"I wish I had thought of that." Dragonite said. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Dragonair said. "It's our job to make the weather better, so of course it never crossed your mind. Or mine until Aron here thought of it. Thank you, Aron."

Aron blushed from embarrassment. "Well I was just thinking because of that storm that happened not long ago…"

"That one was tiring to try to stop." Dragonair said. "I can't think of anything that would have been able to cause a storm like that. It seemed almost otherworldly. I think I have enough energy to be able to make a storm over this city at least."

Dragonair roared and the pearl-like gem on her neck started glowing gold. It seemed to be getting a bit darker outside. Within a few minutes it started thundering and raining. After a few strikes of lightning, Dragonair smiled to herself and laid on the floor of the shrine to rest.

Lightning hit somewhere outside, causing the ground to shake. Along with the tremors that happened every now and then, this storm would make it hard for pokemon to stay on land or in the air. Or even in the water.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Flygon came storming into the Dragon Shrine.

"Dragonair! You have ta stop t'is storm!" Flygon shouted. "Partsa the mountain are startin' ta disappear inta thin air!"

All of them looked around at each other. Dragonair wasn't capable of that. Dragonair pretended to know what was going on though.

"I'll stop this storm when you get rid of the seal keeping me in the shrine!" Dragonair said. "And I don't want any other pokemon to be trapped in here ever again!"

"T'is is mutiny!" Flygon shouted.

Aamira was smiling happily. She wasn't sure why, but she was really enjoying this. "It's let Dragonair go, or watch the city go down."

Flygon growled and used Dragon Claw on the ground in front of the center of the shrine. A barrier appeared and Flygon destroyed it with Outrage. "Now stop t'is storm!"

"I would if I could…" Dragonair said. "But I'm just too tired…"

"You've gotta be kiddin'!" Flygon said. "Whadda we go now!"

"Relax. I'll take care of this." Dragonite roared and started to glow slightly. There was a break in the clouds outside and sun started to shine through. The storm had stopped just like that.

"But you're not a Dragonair." Quill said.

"No." Dragonite said. "But I do know how to use Sunny Day."

Flygon glared at Dragonite. It was obvious that the two of them didn't like each other at all. Flygon turned to Aamira and Quill. "You two are outta here as soon as you stop Dialga and Palkia! Now get t'e lead out!"

Flygon flew off in anger.

"What's his problem?" Aamira asked.

"He probably thought we thought of the storm idea…" Quill said. "But why do you and Flygon hate each other so much, Dragonite?"

"Well our histories are somewhat similar." Dragonite said. "Before he was a Flygon, he was a Vibrava. Before that he was a Trapinch, which can't fly. He evolved in order to learn to fly, then came here and became this country's leader. By learning how to fly he was free to leave his country. I evolved to learn how to fly too, but was trapped here in the shrine. He saw it as my duty to the country to stay here and keep the weather good. When I flew off and left the country, he must have seen it as treason even though he did the same thing."

"How did you get out of the barrier anyway?" Quill asked.

"Only Dragonair are held back by the barrier." Dragonite said. "That's why I evolved. Otherwise I would have just flown off, if it wasn't for that barrier."

"You always act so cheerful, I never would have guessed any of this. But you don't seem at all happy now." Quill said.

"Because of where I am, I guess." Dragonite said. "Which reminds me, will you two come to Sylva?"

"You can't really mean that." Dragonair said. "Just because I can leave the shrine now doesn't mean I can leave the country. I still need to keep the weather stable."

"But that hardly sounds like anything's changed…" Quill said. "You can leave the shrine, but you can't leave the country."

"She could if she wanted to. That makes all the difference." Aamira said.

"Well, let's go." Dragonair flew past them and out of the shrine. She stopped suddenly and looked around her in a panic.

The others all ran out behind her. What they saw was terrible. There seemed to be black a black dome of some sort surrounding the city. In every direction it looked like the land was disintegrating.

"The fabric of time and space is unraveling around the city!" Jirachi said.

"What does that mean exactly?" Quill asked.

"There's no way out of here." Jirachi said. "But more than that, it means this whole area and all of the people in it will disappear if Dialga and Palkia don't stop!"

"And if we can't stop them," Celebi added, "it will be as if this place never existed. And even worse than that, it will keep spreading until the entire world disappears."


	26. Chapter 26 Jirachi's Lullaby

"We have to stop this!" Aamira shouted to Quill who was looking around at disbelief at the vanishing landscape.

"Yea, but where's Sphere Pillar?" Quill asked.

"There." Dragonite pointed to the mountain behind the Dragon Shrine. There was a black cloud over top of it that was swirling around the peak. Some thunder bolts struck the side of the mountain causing some boulders to come loose and roll down its sides.

"Looks dangerous…" Aron said.

"You wait here with Jirachi and Celebi." Aamira said. "We can handle this from this point on."

"No way!" Aron said. "I told you, I want to help Jirachi! And I want to help Celebi and everyone here too!"

"You'll need the Adamant and Lustrous orbs too." Celebi said. "They're the keys to get into Sphere Pillar."

"Which means we'll be in a bit of pain until you stop this…" Jirachi added.

"We'll try to stop Dialga and Palkia quickly." Aamira said. "Let's go."

"Right!" Aron and Quill both said.

Celebi and Jirachi gave the Adamant and Lustrous orbs to Aamira and Quill and the three of them started heading up the side of the mountain. The higher up they got, the harder it was to avoid areas where time and space were unraveling.

They finally came across a circular door on a high cliff. There were carvings of three pokemon on it and two indents in the sides of the door. There was also some writing that they couldn't understand.

"Aamira, can you read this?" Quill asked.

Aamira looked at the strange letters. She didn't really understand why they looked this way, but something about it seemed to be familiar to her. The language seemed somewhat familiar too, even though she couldn't really make out what it said.

"I can't read it," Aamira said, "but it does look familiar somehow. I know we haven't been here before, so why does this bother me so much?"

"Something strange is going on." Quill said.

"I think I might have an idea." Aron said. "If space and time are being distorted and it's not a language you know yet, maybe it's a language you'll learn in the future?"

"You think so?" Aamira asked. "I guess that would make some sense. We shouldn't let it bother us, I guess."

"What do you think those indents on the doors are for?" Quill asked.

Aamira looked down at the Adamant Orb that she was holding. "Maybe we're supposed to put the orbs in the door. They're supposed to be the keys after all."

Aamira put the Adamant Orb in the left side of the door and Quill put the Lustrous Orb in the right. They both started to glow along with the eyes of the three pokemon in the door. A seam appeared down the center of the door and it started to open. It reminded Quill and Aamira of another door that they had opened that had once sent them back in time.

The three of them stepped into the shadows beyond the door. The darkness seemed almost solid. They couldn't see their noses in front of their faces. It was like they were only disembodied spirits wandering a world of nothing but darkness. A white fog appeared around them and finally some figures started to take shape. Some pillars holding up a roof they couldn't see were all around them. There were amazing carvings of pokemon all over the floor of the Sphere Pillar.

Then, fighting high above them in the air, they noticed Dialga and Palkia. It seemed like every time one of them would attack the other, everything around them would shimmer as if it would fade from view again.

"So you two made it here. And with a new companion, I see."

It was one voice Aamira didn't want to hear right now. "Honchkrow!"

Honchkrow stood in front of them. He had been hiding behind something that looked like an altar. He jumped up on top of it so the three of them could see him.

Aron ducked behind Quill. "That's Honchkrow…? I've heard about him, but he looks even scarier than I thought…"

"Bringing a pokemon like that to Sphere Pillar. What were you thinking?" Honchkrow said to Aamira and Quill. "But never mind that, isn't it wonderful!" He raised his wings and looked up joyfully at the two fighting deities. "Time and Space! With only six segments of the red chain, I was able to awaken them! No doubt those three meddlesome pokemon will show up at any moment to try to fix this, then I'll get the last three segments to complete the chain! My master will finally control the pokemon that rule over Time and Space!"

"Why are you doing this!" Aamira shouted. "Why would you want Time and Space to unravel!"

Honchkrow glared down at her. "And why should you care? You've never cared about anything before you lost your memory. You would even betray Lucario just to make yourself the favorite of your own master!"

"What!" Aamira shouted back.

"I didn't think you really forgot." Honchkrow jumped off of the Altar. "You have no idea who you used to be, do you? And yet, that would mean I know you more than you know yourself."

"Stop it, Honchkrow!" Quill's flames flared into life on his back.

"You think you scare me?" Honchkrow asked Quill. "I've had enough with fire, but I suppose that doesn't matter. According to the prophecy, you'll be joining us soon enough."

"That's a lie!" Quill shouted. "I would never join you! Aamira and I are the best of any teams!"

"But just look at yourselves now." Honchkrow said. "starting to doubt yourselves?"

Quill was looking at Honchkrow uncertainly and Aamira was looking at him with a mix of hatred in fear.

Honchkrow laughed and flew back on top of the altar. "The two feuding siblings. It's already coming together, isn't it?"

"We would never fight against each other!" Aamira shouted.

"Whatever." Honchkrow looked back up at the two deities. "Meanwhile, look. Do you see those lights?"

Three orbs of light had appeared a little farther up than where Dialga and Palkia were fighting. As the orbs flew lower and started encircling Dialga and Palkia, it became easier to tell what pokemon were concealed in the light.

"Yer insane!" Flygon shouted loudly to Dragonite back in the city.

"You heard what I said." Dragonite adjusted his glasses. "I wan to end this. Not with a fight, but with an apology. I know I shouldn't have flown off selfishly and left my country to suffer because of it, and you know that it's wrong to keep the Dragonair prisoners in the shrine that was built by Lugia himself to honor the Dragonair. We're on mutual ground, so why can't we just bury the past?"

Flygon growled at Dragonite and turned away. "Like I'd ever forgive ye for what ye did!"

Dragonite sighed. "Right now Aamira, Aron, and Quill are attempting to solve the feud between Dialga and Palkia. They were both alike in cause and reasoning, but the two pokemon continued to fight against one another. We both evolved for the same reason; to learn how to fly. While Dragonair act as the weather changer, the Dragonite rule over the country. It was an amends to make up for the Dragonair's isolation. But then you challenged my father for the right to rule this country. You won and he flew off never to be seen again. Since that Dragonair have never seen any reason to what they do. Why not just abandon this land and find another place? I've always wondered that. But here we are, caught up in a legend as old as time itself. Amazing. And I have to admit, I'm glad I'm not the leader of this country like I was meant to be. If I had become this country's leader, I never would have met Quill and Aamira. I'm not overestimating my worth, but if I had never become in charge of that museum, I doubt Quill would have become as courageous and as close to Aamira as he is now."

"So you're t'ankful ta me?" Flygon asked uncertainly.

"My father wasn't the nicest of pokemon." Dragonite said. "You remember. Incendia Anhelo was starting to be called the third country of war because of him. You wanted to save the people that lived here from a soon-to-be dictator. The same pokemon who tried to take over your country when you were still a Trapinch. That's why you vowed to fly across the sea one day and challenge my father. I know what he did to you. Thanks to him, you're an orphan and you grew up all alone. Your hate of him was all you had left, so after you defeated him it's only natural that you needed to cast your hate onto something else; his children. Especially me since we're the same age and you saw me as the biggest threat. But then who became the dictator?"

"It wasn't you, like I t'ought it would be…" Flygon said. "I'm sorry, Dragonite, for everythin'. Please, apologize ta yer siblin's fer me. I couldn't face t'em."

Dragonite nodded. "If you ever need a diplomat's help, you know how to contact me. Just sent a message via Delibird to the Museum in Vine City."

"Yer not stayin' t'en?" Flygon asked.

Dragonite shook his head. "I don't see any reason to. Dragonair wants to stay, but Dratini hasn't decided what he wants to do yet. He should make his choice free from my influence. Besides, I might not be an Aura Reader or anything special like that, but I still feel I'm somehow needed."

"Well, if yer goin' back ta yer museum, ya don't wanna go back empty handed, do ya?" Flygon asked. "I've held onta somethin' fer years now and I wanna give it ta you now as a donation ta yer museum. A Silver Wing."

"You have a Silver Wing?" Dragonite stared in amazement.

Flygon smiled slyly. "Ya know, all o' stories about Lugia are great, but he's much nicer in person."

Honchkrow took the incomplete Red Chain from under his wing and held it up to the five pokemon in the air. Uxie and Azelf started to squirm and shout as if something was hurting them. The two of them collapsed and fell to the ground. Mesprit dove after them and landed in front of the two of them.

"So we finally meet, Mesprit?" Honchkrow said. "Now I'll just take you're…."

Mesprit smiled triumphantly. The red gems in her tails and her forehead were missing!

"It is nice to see you again, Aamira." Mesprit said Telepathically to all of them. "I hope my advice did you some good."

Aamira smiled and nodded. "Yea, thanks."

"Honchkrow, give the treasures of Uxie and Azelf back to them!" Mesprit shouted at Honchkrow. "If you do not I will just have to force you to!"

"Such fighting spirit. Now isn't that supposed to be Azelf's personality? And yet he gave in pretty easily when I robbed him of his Will Chain Links.

"All part of the plan." Mesprit said. "Now, hand over those Chain Links!"

"It's four on one, Honchkrow!" Aamira said. "Just give up now!"

"Never." Honchkrow said. "Mesprit, as the being of Emotion, you would never charge into a battle you felt wasn't fair. Four on one, one of you being a legendary pokemon. Why not at least give me a hint as to where your chain links are?"

"You will never find them, either way." Mesprit said. "They are hidden in a place across time and space, guarded by an unaware guardian."

"That's it?" Honchkrow glared angrily at the smirking Mesprit. "I can't control Dialga and Palkia without the completed red chain. It's not as if we couldn't just play our little 'trick' to get them to show themselves again in the future."

"Honchkrow, what are you talking about!" Quill asked. "What did you do to Dialga and Palkia!"

Honchkrow smirked and used the white gem around his neck to teleport out in a blinding flash.

Above them Dialga and Palkia continued to fight. There seemed to be no end to it.

"They have been tricked." Uxie said telepathically. "We will have to find out what made them like this to stop them."

"Even for me stopping both of these pokemon at once will be difficult." Azelf said. "If only Giratina had finished piecing together the Looking Glass by now, but it seems that some of the pieces have scattered farther than we thought."

"We'll help you!" Aron said. "I promised I would help. And six heads are better than three, right?"

"I will try to reason with them to cease their fighting long enough to figure this out." Mesprit looked up at the two pokemon and her eyes started to glow. The two pokemon stopped in mid attack and looked down at Mesprit. The looked back at each other angrily and then flew to the ground. It was amazing how big they were up close.

There was a slight problem though; they didn't seem to talk, telepathically or otherwise. Instead they made these mechanical whining and roaring sounds that sounded a bit like a machine that was having some trouble starting up.

"How are we supposed to talk to them like this?" Aamira asked.

"I can understand them." Aron said to everyone's amazement.

"Of course." Uxie said as if it were obvious. "Dialga is a Steel-type pokemon and is able to speak to other Steel-types as a result. Although I don't think it would be smart to rely on one side of this story."

"But then why can he understand Palkia?" Aamira asked. "Palkia is a water and dragon type pokemon, so it doesn't make sense."

"Perhaps because of his bond with Jirachi?" Uxie said. "They are close, wouldn't you say? It would make sense that Aron would unknowingly learn to speak with a pokemon like Palkia because of Jirachi."

"This is great! You can translate for us!" Quill said to Aron.

Aron looked nervously at the two deities and nodded. He was the only one who could help now.

Everyone waited for Aron to hear both sides of Dialga and Palkia's stories. They seemed to be arguing even during their conversation.

"I think I somewhat understand what's happened here." Aron said. "Dialga claims that Palkia invaded his territory, and Palkia says that Dialga was the one who invaded his territory. There's no way that one could have been in the other's territory without knowing it though because of their connection to Time and Space. Each of them claimed to be led here to Sphere Pillar from their own world, which wouldn't make sense. I think the trick Honchkrow pulled would be causing them to hallucinate or something and chase after a mirage of one another to get them to come to Sphere Pillar. Then once they're here they would fight and give Honchkrow enough time to steal the last Chain Links and finish the Red Chain."

"Wow, nice work, Aron." Quill said. "But could Honchkrow really make them hallucinate like that?"

"I would not doubt it." Uxie said. "Whoever Honchkrow is working for seems to posses a great amount of power."

"It is unfortunate that Uxie can't remember who that pokemon is." Mesprit said. "He had just mentioned to us over telepathy that someone was causing some trouble and that he wanted to meet in person to discuss it. Then he was attacked along the way and was unable to remember a thing about it."

"It's too bad." Aamira said. "But Dialga and Palkia have calmed down at least, right?"

"They say they'll go back to their own worlds and pretend like this never happened. That way they won't be tempted to start fighting again" Aron said. "Oh, and they're also going to restore Time and Space to this area."

"Well that's good. Let's head back and tell everyone the good news!" Quill said.

"I'm sorry you two didn't get your treasures back." Aamira said to Azelf and Uxie.

"It is alright." Uxie said. "I have regained enough of my power to speak telepathically again, and my memory is starting to get better now. Though I hardly remember you at all. I should try to describe people's personalities better in my notebook. Either way, the Red Chain cannot do any harm or good without all of the Chain Links."

"I hated to give mine up, but relying on one power source is foolish anyway." Azelf said. "As long as it gave Mesprit enough time to hide hers, it's alright. And it was nice to meet the members of Team Sleuth at last."

"We must get going." Mesprit said. "Back to our lakes to keep the world in harmony."

"I hope we can meet again some day." Aamira said.

The three pokemon started to glow again and teleported away.

Aamira, Quill, and Aron returned to the city to the cheers of all of the citizens they had saved. Jirachi and Celebi were there too and seemed healthier than ever. They were really surprised when they found out that Dragonite and Flygon had become close friends. They had decided that along with Incendia Anhelo's legends and Dragonite's research teams, they would become partners in uncovering ancient legends and artifacts that had been buried for hundreds or thousands of years. It was a new start for them.

When Quill and Aron ran off to play with Jirachi and Celebi, Aamira finally had the chance to ask Dragonite about his Investigation Team. As it turns out, he was a member of the team back when he was still a Dratini. He had told Aamira before that their team leader had been rescuing two children stuck in a cave after a landslide caused by an earthquake. The two children were actually Dragonite and his sister. Dragonite had pushed his sister out of the way of the landslide, but got them both stuck in the cave. Flygon had secretly been in love with the leader of their team, so when she died while rescuing Dragonite and his sister, Flygon blamed them for it.

The reason between their hatred of each other finally became clear. Between the loss of his secret love and his family, Flygon hated Dragonite. In turn, he made Dragonite hate him by trapping him in the Dragon Shrine when he evolved into Dragonair. The hatred between the two of them grew until that day when they finally tried to understand one another. When the legend of Dialga and Palkia started to unfold before their very eyes, it became clear to both of them that fighting was pointless and had somehow become good friends because of this.

Dragonite and Celebi returned to the country of Sylva while Aron, Aamira, Quill, and Jirachi all made their way back to Chalybs. It was bright and sunny the whole way back. It felt great just to be out and talking with friends. Aamira refused to believe that she used to be a bad person and even if she had been that was in the past. Quill didn't believed that he would ever betray Aamira either, especially if they could enjoy nice days like this together.

Time seemed to pass by too quickly. Before they new it, it was the last night of the festival and the Millennium Comet was about to disappear for another thousand years. When that happened, Jirachi would go back to sleep.

"I wish that there was some way I could stay, but I keep the world in balance as much as Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit do." Jirachi said to Aron.

"You know what? I'm okay with this." Aron said sadly. "I know you don't have a choice, and I'm just thankful for the time we could spend together. But I'm still really going to miss you!"

"Don't be sad, Aron." Jirachi said. "If I could have a wish of my own, it would be to meet someone like you again someday in the future. I have to say, I'm happy I got to see so much of the world this time around. I'll never forget any of you."

"Jirachi! You're still supposed to grant me a wish!" Aron said. "I wish you didn't have to go! That there was some way you really could stay!"

Jirachi smiled. He seemed half amused and half sad. "I'm sorry Aron, but I only grant one wish per person."

"But I haven't made my wish yet…" Aron said. "Please, Jirachi! I know I said I'm okay with this, but I'm really not! My wish is for you to stay! Please!"

"I'm sorry, Aron." Jirachi floated to the top of the hill where he first woke up. "This is goodbye…"

Though Aamira and Quill were both trying to hide it, they were still crying a bit themselves. It was like watching the past all over again when Aamira had disappeared. It was almost too much for them to watch, but they promised they'd be there for Aron.

Jirachi floated in the air on his back. A third eye opened on his stomach and shot a beam of light towards the Millennium Comet. Another beam of energy shot back down to Jirachi, filling him with the comet's energy so he would be able to wake up again, a thousand years from now.

He started to glow with the energy and the Star Piece he had been sealed inside started to form around him once again. It slowly floated to the ground and disappeared into the top of the hill. Aamira flinched as she felt some of the energy from Jirachi released into the earth.

"I hope you have good dreams, Jirachi." Aron started crying harder than ever and collapsed on the ground. None of them had ever seen someone so sad before. It was as if all of the happiness had suddenly left them.

Around them the people of Aron's country were singing a sad song for Jirachi. From what they had heard of it, it was called "Jirachi's Lament" Though it was really more like a lullaby. It was perfect. If they had to feel sad, it seemed only right that they felt as sad as they possibly could now so they could all be happy later.

Aamira walked up to Aron and sat something down on the grass in front of him. Aron got up and picked up the Aura Glass, then looked up at Aamira feeling slightly confused.

"I'm not sure if you remember…" Aamira gave a small smile. "On our way to Incendia Anhelo, You wished you could be a member of an Investigation Team.


	27. Chapter 27 Manaphy's Hatching

Honchkrow beat his wings furiously against the headwinds. Just when his master was starting to favor him over the others again, this had to happen! Mesprit hid her Chain Links and all she would say as that it's somewhere in time and space guarded by an unknowing guardian. If the guardian didn't know about it, then it could be anyone! If it's in time and space, it could be anywhere!

'And why should I have to follow a master anyway?' Honchkrow thought to himself. 'He might be powerful, but I have an army behind me! And yet I continue to disgrace my title as the "big boss pokemon" by playing sidekick to a pokemon like him!'

But he knew the pokemon he was working for was powerful beyond belief. Already he had been given a bit of that power, but it could hardly even be called a fraction compared to that full power. If he wanted more, he would have to stay on his master's good side.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" Honchkrow said to himself. There was another pokemon flying about fifty feet below him. It was a Delibird, and not just any Delibird. He could tell by its determination that it was one of the Investigators Brigade's Delibird. But it was obviously having some trouble against the head winds, even at that lower altitude.

Feeling frustrated by yesterday's events, Honchkrow ambushed the struggling Delibird and knocked it face first to the ground.

The Delibird was obviously stunned from this and took a second to regain his awareness. He got up and turned around only to see Honchkrow standing in front of him.

"H-Honchkrow!" The Delibird backed up a few steps before Honchkrow attacked him again and knocked him back to the ground.

"Listen, I'm in a bad mood today. Which means you're just unlucky. Mind telling me why you're out and about on such a windy day?" Honchkrow said to the frightened Delibird.

"I-It's my job. But I only got promoted a few days ago, so I'm not as good as the others yet…" He thought it would be best to answer truthfully in front of one of the currently most feared pokemon.

"So who is important enough to be delivering a message in this wind? And into a headwind no less."

"T-Team Sleuth…"

Honchkrow laughed loudly. "You, delivering a message to Team Sleuth? I would have thought that being the hotshot Investigation Team that they are that they would have a more experienced mail carrier deliver their messages. Isn't it true that you're not supposed to tell anyone who you're delivering your messages to unless the actual recipients are in the area?"

"Y-Yes, but…" Delibird clammed up and didn't dare say anything else on the matter.

"So tell me; since you've already broken one rule, what's one more? What message are you supposed to be giving to them?"

Delibird shook his head, terrified. He knew that he would be in big trouble if he gave anyone other than Team Sleuth the actual message.

Honchkrow glared at him. "If I were you, I'd tell me that message. So what is it?"

Delibird was completely terrified of Honchkrow. He didn't see what other choice he had. "Someone found something along the shore south of Pacis. It was identified as an egg of a really rare pokemon. I forget its name, 'Mana' something. That's all I know! Team Sleuth was supposed to come back and take a look at it before heading to Ignis!"

"You don't say?" Honchkrow smirked. He knew exactly what pokemon it was. "Forgetting the pokemon's name; how unprofessional. Either way, this information might prove to be quite useful. You've put me in a good mood, so I'll let you go today. You had just better hope you don't run into me again."

Honchkrow raised his wings and with a few powerful flaps flew off into the distance.

Delibird sat there terrified, knowing what a horrible thing he had just done. He got up and tried to fly off himself, but he couldn't. One of his wings made a sudden sharp cracking sound and pain shot up to his shoulder. He realized it must have broken when Honchkrow attacked him. He started walking in the direction he knew Team Sleuth was in, but noticed how much slower walking was opposed to flying.

"I just don't know…" Aron stopped walking and looked back in the direction of his country. They had passed the border into Pacis some time ago, but Aron still seemed a little reluctant to be leaving. "I just don't think I'm cut out to be an Investigation Team member."

"You're just sad because Jirachi's gone." Quill said. "I know how you feel. When Aamira disappeared I thought I would never see her again. I lost the will to continue on the Investigation Team without her, but then she came back! Who knows; something might happen and you'll meet Jirachi again someday."

"You don't think I'm too weak to be an Investigation Team member?" Aron asked.

"We just have to find your talent!" Aamira said confidently. "Our friend and cousin Eevee wanted to be an Investigation Team member, but as it turns out he's more of an intellectual so he decided to make inventions that can make the jobs of Investigation Teams easier. He already developed a machine to help pokemon evolve."

"Only we can't use it for some reason…" Quill said a little disappointed. "I don't know about being Typhlosion, but I wouldn't mind being a Quilava.

"So I just have to find my talent…" Aron said to himself more than anyone else. "I'm not really sure what I'm good at though."

"You'll figure it out." Aamira said cheerfully. "Anyway, this is supposed to be like a dream come true, isn't it? Or wish, in this case."

Aron laughed. "I guess you're… Hey, what's that over there?"

Quill and Aamira turned to see an injured pokemon walking across the plane. He noticed them at about the same time and ran towards them.

"Oh thank goodness I found you! Team Sleuth!"

"Hey, it's a Delibird!" Aron said. "In my country Zubat are usually used to deliver messages instead because we live in a cave under the ground, but I've heard Delibird are really reliable."

"Yea, well not this one." Delibird said sadly while clutching his injured wing.

"Don't move so much, you're hurt." Quill started going through his Collection Bag for the first aid supplies. He found some bandages and some herbs compliments of their friend Nuzleaf and started to bandage the Delibird's broken wing. "What happened to you?"

"I'm so sorry." Delibird said. "I was on my way to give you a message when I was ambushed by Honchkrow."

"Honchkrow!" Aamira looked up as if expecting to see him circling above.

"I-I was told this job wouldn't be too dangerous in spite of our precautionary training, but then this happens after only a few days as one of the elites… He was really mad about something and I think he was just looking for something to do, but then he made me tell him what the message was that I was delivering. He seemed pretty happy about that and let me go."

"What did you tell him?" Aamira asked.

"The message I was supposed to give you. A pokemon egg washed up on a beach south of Pacis. Someone recognized it as a Manaphy egg and brought it to the Investigators brigade HQ. I didn't tell him where the egg was brought or what pokemon it hatched into at least, but I'm going to be in big trouble for telling all of this to Honchkrow."

"Hey, if they give you any trouble just tell me!" Aamira said. "I know that you were scared and that you at least tried not to give him a lot of information."

"Thanks, but the Delibird kinda play by their own rules apart from yours. Honchkrow thinks I only broke two rules, but I actually broke three of the four most important rules. If I hadn't broken that first one I wouldn't have had to break the other two. You see, there's a really bad headwind on the way to Chalybs today. It gets worse the higher up in the air you go. We're supposed to fly at a certain altitude to avoid stuff like this, but the headwind was just so bad that I flew a little lower so I could make quicker progress. I didn't notice Honchkrow flying above me and I got attacked."

"It's no big deal." Quill said. "He seems to find out a lot of information quickly anyway and would have know about the Manaphy Egg eventually."

"You can come back with us." Aamira said. "We'll explain what happened together so maybe you won't get in as much trouble."

The four of them finally got back to headquarters with the injured rookie Delibird. When they tried to explain what happened to Electivire, he seemed completely understanding. The Delibird's leader, however, was furious. He flew off with the rookie with threats of being fire and having his wings clipped.

"It's true that they have rules apart from our own, so there's not much I can do." Electivire said. "I hope that the Delibird leader will at least understand who it was that ambushed our little friend. Speaking of little friends, I see you have a new one."

"Uh, y-yes…" Aron said timidly to the much larger Electivire. "I don't know exactly what I'm good at though, so I'm not sure how useful I can be…"

"We have an academy here in this building for indecisive new recruits. I'm sure that within a few weeks you'll be able to find what you're good at and will find a happy place to work here."

"Oh, thanks." Aron said. "That sounds really nice."

"As a member of Team Sleuth they will also be something like your sponsors. If you ever need to go on any training missions, it will be with one or two other members of Team Sleuth."

"Oh cool!" Aron said. "I hope they won't be too difficult…"

"For a beginner like you?" Electivire said. "Nonsense! We only try to give beginners the easiest missions until we're sure they can handle harder missions. We're not going to be asking you to go after outlaws on your first mission at least."

Aamira and Quill glanced sideways at each other. Ironically, though the mission wasn't given to them by Electivire, their first mission had been to arrest an outlaw.

"Wow, thanks!" Aron said feeling relieved at this news. "That's really a load off my mind."

Electivire pointed to the door at the end of the meeting room. "If you go out that door and turn right, you'll find our new secretary named Kirlia. She just started here yesterday, but already knows this place like the back of her hand. She'll be able to give you a full tour of the building and around the town to start you off."

"Thank you so much!" Aron said happily before running out of the room.

"What is this? Aron was just a coincidence, but a new messenger, a new secretary…?" Aamira said.

"There have been some staffing shortages after establishing bases in the other countries, not to mention some shortages of Investigation Teams. There have been strange weather patterns from all over and dungeon pokemon are becoming more violent like they were when Mismagius tried to take over. We even got calls from across the seas asking for help. Though he's still new at this, Aron will be a warmly welcomed edition. The more experienced teams aren't able to take care of simpler missions because there are too many serious missions now. We need new recruits and even designed a new academy for it. We had to get the teachers from other countries though. We were surprised by how many volunteered to come here. Eevee is helping out too."

"Wow, rookie Investigators, an academy." Quill said. "That really takes me back."

"So what was this about a Manaphy egg?" Aamira asked.

"I had almost forgotten!" Electivire said. "The egg is with Blissey in the infirmary. One of the academy class rooms is right on the way. Why don't you stop there and take a look?"

"Why not?" Aamira said. "I never did go to school in this world, though there was that day we had to teach…"

"Which would have ended badly if not for one little Happiny." Quill said.

The two of them had no trouble finding the classroom. A directory had been put up right outside of it so no one would get lost since so many things were changed around. Even the infirmary had been moved, so it was a good thing that it was there.

The two of them walked into the classroom and recognized a familiar voice. At the back of the classroom was Espeon, Quill's mom and Aamira's step mom since she was unofficially adopted.

Espeon stopped a lecture she was giving in mid-sentence when she noticed Quill and Aamira walk into the room. "Quill! Aamira!" She jumped over the heads of the entire class, startling all of them, and landed in front of Aamira and Quill. "It's been so long! I see you're both doing well."

"More or less." Quill said. "I was wondering why Electivire wanted us to stop by when we're supposed to be heading somewhere."

"As busy as ever, I see!" Espeon said happily. "I preferred it when you two were just starting out yourselves. You two were the cutest new Investigation Team I had ever seen. But that's why I love teaching. Watching young children grow into amazing teams like the two of you is my favorite part of the job."

"Is that why you volunteered to come here?" Aamira asked.

"Well, that and to be closer to family. Unfortunately, Typhlosion and his team headed out to Ignis a while back and I'm sure the two of you don't have much time to spare."

"It seems like we hardly ever get to sleep in our own beds nowadays. I'm getting kind of tired of traveling all the time." Quill said. "Sure we get to see some cool places, but it just doesn't have that nostalgic feel of home."

"On the bright side the feeling only gets stronger when you do get home." Espeon said. "I might not get to see you a lot, even though I work here now, but this place does seem a lot like Sylva. Like Vine City minus the trees. And the parties that we always find an excuse to have."

"So that's all my birthday was?" Aamira asked. "An excuse to throw a party?"

Espeon laughed. "You can say that. Anyway, I should get back to teaching." All of the students groaned from disappointment. "And as you said, don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yea. We can catch up tonight at dinner unless we're being forced to leave again after only a couple of hours." Quill said.

Espeon went back to her lecture and Aamira and Quill headed to the infirmary. It was a nice surprise to see that Espeon was going to be teaching here, and would possibly even be the teacher of their newest recruit. If that was the case, as his sponsors they would at least have an excuse to come back and visit often.

In the infirmary, they were greeted by a Chansey who led them into a back room where the Manaphy egg was being kept.

"So you're a new recruit too?" Aamira asked.

"You got it." Chansey said. "I come from Divum, though most of the doctors there are Swablu. I figured that this would be a great way to help Investigation Teams since Divum is a bit isolated. Anyway, here's the egg. Blissey had to run out to make an order for more supplies so I'm filling in for the next few minutes. Eggs are my specialty, so I don't mind."

"That's definitely a Manaphy egg." Aamira said. The egg was floating in a tube of cold water. "They hatch at the bottom of cold oceans. I hope it will be okay here."

"I'm sure it will be fine. They can't feel much of anything while in their eggs. It wasn't looking so good when it was brought in, so we put it in the water to help it a bit. Everything seems fine now and I was just about to take it out when you two showed up." Chansey drained the water out of the tube and raised it up so she could take the egg out. "I believe the intention for this egg is for it to be hatched by the two of you. Better you two than someone like Honchkrow. You know that pokemon usually gain the character traits of their parents. If hatched by a wicked pokemon, this little baby will probably become just as wicked."

"Explains why Honchkrow was so interested when he found out." Aamira said. "Alright, we're on egg duty until Manaphy hatches then. But after that, we'll have to take it home, won't we? Like any other legendary pokemon, Manaphy guard a treasure. Only Manaphy's is hidden somewhere in the ocean. They can instinctively find where it is, but I'm afraid of it being followed…"

"That would be bad. For Manaphy and the place where Manaphy comes from." Quill said.

"I'm glad you see the importance of this." Chansey handed the egg to Aamira. "It's up to the two of you to take care of little Manaphy and see that it makes its way home safely."

"This'll be just like when Latias hatched." Aamira said.

"Just don't get all heart broken again when Manaphy leaves." Quill said.

"Oh of course I'll be heart broken, but it won't last long." Aamira looked down at the egg. It was blue with some yellow spheres inside it circling a red sphere. It seemed to be transparent, but the spheres were the only things that could be seen inside the egg; no Manaphy. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it, but it was still so mysterious.

Later that night at dinner, everyone was staring curiously at the Manaphy egg. They had all heard of it, but hadn't seen it until now.

"That's really a pokemon egg?" Roy asked curiously. "It looks so strange."

"It smells like water." Sandshrew said. He was blind, but all of his other senses were great. "I bet it's really moist and a bit cold to the touch."

"You can really tell just from the smell?" Aamira asked. "What else is there?"

"I smell something like sulfur. Maybe from an underwater vent. I know the egg floats at the bottom of the ocean before hatching and then Manaphy swims all the way home after it hatches. It must have been caught in an underwater vent and got pushed towards the shore by the rising bubbles from the vent."

"Poor Manaphy has been through so much and it hasn't even hatched yet." Quill said. "I wonder how long it will take to hatch."

"It's a bit embarrassing saying that I'm technically a two time grandma." Espeon said. "First with Latias and now little Manaphy. Just don't make me feel too old!"

Aamira laughed. "With all of these kind spirited pokemon around, I'm sure Manaphy is going to become a kind pokemon itself!"

"I sure hope so!" Quill said. "I can't wait to see what Manaphy looks like. It must look really cool considering what its egg looks like."

"If what I've heard about Manaphy eggs is true, you can tell when it's close to hatching by the intensity of light coming from the spheres at the core." Eevee said. "The brighter they glow, the closer it is to hatching. The yellow spheres will start to glow gradually and when they're each glowing as bright as possible the red sphere in the center will start glowing right before it hatches."

"Well that's good to know." Aamira said. "Oh look. One of the yellow spheres is already glowing faintly."

"It'll be even brighter by tomorrow." Eevee said. "I know this is obvious, but you two probably shouldn't be going on any missions until Manaphy hatches. Even then, it would probably be best to stay with Manaphy until it can return home."

Later that night, Aamira curled up in her hammock next to the Manaphy egg. It was so nice to be in her hammock again and to look out of the window. The faint glow of the egg wasn't enough to keep her awake, but she couldn't sleep anyway.

She realized that Honchkrow's boss, whoever it was, was a powerful pokemon. Even so, they seemed to still need more power. They tried to abduct Jirachi, and control Dialga and Palkia. They had two thirds of the red chain and were able to capture Raikou. Still with the power they were able to take, they needed more? What for? What were they planning? Where were they hiding?

Thoughts like this often kept Aamira up at night. She missed being able to use her Aura Reading abilities. If she could then maybe she would already know the answers.

There was another question: Why did her scarf mysteriously disappear when she disappeared? She still had the Emit Ring from when she had fought Mismagius alongside Quill and Lucario, thought she rarely used it. She had traded the Emit Ring for her scarf. She was supposed to get it back from Persian once she gave the Emit Ring back. If it turned out that Persian had conned her, she would be mad. But Emit Rings were so rare there was no reason to do that. It was just so strange.

Aamira was finally able to get to sleep. She had the strangest dream that night. Instead of being haunted by the usual nightmares, she had a dream she was under the water. Above her the moon was glowing red and she could see ice floating in the water. A blue pokemon started swimming circles around her.

"Come on, Mama! Let's swim home together!"

Aamira smiled as the little blue pokemon swam ahead of her. She swam after it and noticed something that looked like a castle floating inside a bubble under the water. It was glowing red faintly in the light of the lunar eclipse.

The glow wasn't just in her dream though. She woke up early that morning to find the spheres inside the Manaphy egg glowing a little brighter than the day before. Another of the yellow spheres had started to glow and the sun was shining through the window, causing the egg to shimmer as if it were full of water.

'Wait, this isn't the egg!' Aamira suddenly realized. 'The egg itself is that red sphere in the center. The egg I'm holding is more like a water-filled container to keep it moist. That's why that red sphere glows the closer it gets to hatching and why Manaphy can't be seen inside of it even though the egg is transparent. Transparent like solid water, only not cold like ice.'

Aamira thought Eevee might like to hear about this. She got up and walked to his lab. It seemed to be one of the only things that hadn't been changed around.

"That's an interesting theory." Eevee said. "The actual egg is the sphere in the center? It would make sense. Manaphy must have to go through a huge growth immediately after hatching."

"They're supposed to be a foot tall. It would make sense considering that's about the size of the egg." Aamira said.

"Wait, I have another theory." Eevee said. "What if the water in the egg is actually Manaphy?"

"What do you mean?" Aamira asked.

"Well there's an ability Manaphy can learn later on called Acid Armor, which makes the pokemon turn into a liquid so it can't be attacked easily. Maybe that's how they're born. After all, the yellow spheres are visible above manaphy's eyes and the red sphere is visible on its chest. So where's Manaphy? It must actually be the water that solidifies when it hatches."

"That would make sense." Aamira said.

"This is an amazing discovery!" Eevee said. "As you know, no one really knows where pokemon eggs come from. If Manaphy is literally born from water, this could be a huge breakthrough in discovering the origins of pokemon!"

"But it would have to have something to do with the parents, wouldn't it?" Aamira asked. "Genetic traits like shiny pokemon have can be inherited, and it's not like a pokemon egg just hatches into a random pokemon."

"That's true!" Eevee said. "This could go so much deeper than was once thought. Thank you for telling me about this!"

Aamira left shortly after that with the Manaphy egg. Eevee got so excited whenever he thought he was close to a scientific breakthrough. He wasn't going to be getting bored any time soon with so much research to do.

"Hey, where were you?" Quill asked at breakfast.

"Talking to Eevee. Apparently some things I said made him think of a theory about where pokemon eggs come from." Aamira wiped the sleep out of her eyes and started eating. She was exhausted after not getting any sleep that night.

"Explains why he's not here. He can get so obsessed with his research at times." Quill finished eating and stood up. "So what do you want to do today? We're technically on vacation until we can return Manaphy back home."

"I haven't thought about it." Aamira said. "What about Delibird? Want to go see how he's doing?"

"Alright." Said Quill suddenly worried. "I hope he didn't really get fired… Manaphy is safe, so it's not like any real harm is done."

"Well Manaphy is safe for now. You never know when Honchkrow might turn up, but like you said before he usually finds out about this sort of thing eventually anyway."

They looked everywhere inside the building, but couldn't find Delibird anywhere. The two of them headed outside to look around and noticed Glameow and Gengar going off on a training mission with Aron. They seemed to be in a hurry and didn't notice them as they ran by.

"I've got an idea." Aamira said. "Manaphy are water types so we should probably see if the Keckleon shop is selling any Blue Gummies."

"That's probably a good idea." Quill said. "This isn't like last time when Latias's egg hatched almost as soon as you got it."

The two of them headed to the Keckleon shop, which in this town was more like an outdoor café. There was the usual stall where the Keckleon brothers sold their merchandise, but all around there were tables with umbrellas on them. The Keckleon liked being involved in conversations with there customers, so a long time ago they turned their shop into a mini café so more people had a place to sit around and talk, even if they didn't want to buy anything.

"Hey, it's not the end of the world." The Keckleon were talking to another pokemon. To their surprise it was Delibird.

"What's going on here?" Quill asked. "Are you alright, Delibird? What happened after yesterday?"

"Oh, I'm fine…" Delibird said. "Your first aid was top notch so I should be better in no time, but they're still considering having me fired…"

"I don't believe this." Aamira said. "You were attacked from behind and they don't feel any pity towards you at all?"

"Maybe I'll just go home to Glacies." Delibird said. "Although I will miss talking to my Keckleon friends here."

"Welcome to our shop." The green Keckleon brother said. "Do you need anything today?"

"Do you have any Blue Gummies?" Aamira asked.

"We just got a new shipment in this morning." The purple Keckleon said. "Ooh, shopping for the little eggy when it hatches?"

"Yup." Quill said. "This egg is what Delibird got in trouble over too."

"I'm just glad nothing bad has happened to it because of me." Delibird said.

"Oh, since we have the time, could we get some Red and Orange Gummy smoothies?" Quill asked the purple Keckleon.

"Sure thing. One bag of gummies and two smoothies." The green Keckleon went to get the gummies while the purple one made the smoothies.

After paying for their smoothies and gummies, Quill and Aamira sat down at Delibirds table. The way he described the leader of the Delibird, he seemed pretty strict. All of the Delibird had to follow four rules: For messages delivered in different cities, fly at an altitude of at least five hundred feet until crossing the border into the city, never say who the recipient is to any passerby unless the recipient is present, only give the message to the recipient, and no breaks until the message is delivered. Delibird had been exhausted from flying against the headwinds, but didn't want to stop to take a break in case he missed Aamira and Quill, so he had flown at a lower altitude so he could fly faster.

Since he broke three of those four rules, they were really considering firing him. It turns out that he really needed the job too because his mom was really sick and it was the only way he could raise enough money for the medicine she needed.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do!" Delibird said. "The medicine has to be made custom for every person, and it's so hard to find the ingredients and only a few people know how to make it. It's not that surprising that it costs twenty five thousand poke. I don't really like this job so much, but it pays well. I would have made that money in two months but now that I'm on temporary probation, I'm not getting paid at all…"

"We would help if we could." Quill said. "But after Glameow joined the team Machop kind of… uh… took a liking to her and started buying some expensive gifts for her using the team's fund. Even if we gave you every poke we have, it wouldn't even come close to what you need."

Delibird sighed. "I wouldn't want to borrow money anyway. I wouldn't be able to rest easily until I paid it all back even if you just gave it to me."

"I'm sure everything will work out somehow." Quill said. "You just have to stay positive."

"Yea, sure. If staying positive was all it took my mom would have been cured months ago…"

"He's been like this all day." One of the Keckleon said. "Nothing we say or do can get him to cheer up. Poor guy…"

A while later Quill and Aamira headed back to headquarters just in time to hear a horrible explosion. Knowing instinctively where it had come from, they hurried to Eevee's lab.

"And that's why my lab is in this area." Eevee put out a few burning strands of fur on the top of his head and shook off some of the soot. "And that's also why all of the research and anything paper is being kept in a separate lab."

Aamira laughed. "What are you working on now?"

"Well, while thinking about your theory on the Manaphy egg, I started wondering if maybe there was a way to use my evolution research to go backwards to see if there's some sort of relationship between the different species of pokemon eggs and the evolution of pokemon that hatch from those eggs. Whenever a pokemon evolves, they have to use an energy that's unique to each species of pokemon, which is why Eevee like me can evolve into seven different species. Seven different energies, seven different pokemon. I figured that the energy from evolution could be the same or at least similar to a possible energy that causes a pokemon egg to be a certain species."

"Did you find anything out?" Quill asked.

"While running a simulation of the energy wavelengths, the machine overloaded and… well… the short answer would be no."

"Do you think it's really a good idea to be researching this?" Aamira asked. "Do you think there might be some things that maybe aren't meant to be known?"

"Coming from an Aura Reader I'm not sure why you would say that." Eevee said. "I suppose I should take a break though to get this place cleaned up… I see the egg is glowing more than before."

They left Eevee to clean up his lab and headed up to their team's room. Since Aron joined, their room got upgraded and became a bit bigger so it didn't feel as cramped as it was before. There were even some beanbag chairs added to make it feel a little more relaxing.

Aamira sat in one of the beanbag chairs and sat Manaphy's egg next to her.

"Did you notice that five of the eight yellow spheres are already glowing?" Aamira asked. "I bet the spheres don't start glowing at all until the egg gets close to hatching."

"So why do you think Eevee shouldn't research pokemon eggs?" Quill asked.

"I'm just worried about what it might lead to. According to him it's some sort of energy that determines the pokemon that hatches from an egg. If that's the case, would it be possible to completely change what a pokemon egg hatches into? What would that lead to? People could start hatching legendary pokemon from their eggs if they wanted to or even, what I'm most afraid of, force them to become Aura Reader. Being born with those abilities is one thing, but being forced into it before you're even able to agree to it or not is something completely different."

"But Eevee wouldn't—."

"Maybe not, but someone else might." Aamira said. "I think it's just best to leave some mysteries unsolved." She hugged the Manaphy egg and laid back on her chair.

"I guess that wouldn't be good if something like that happened. Unless there's some sort of benefit from learning more about pokemon eggs, I guess there isn't much of a point." Quill said. "It could be used to save pokemon from going extinct, but there's already technology that can be used to bring fossils back to life so there isn't much of a point."

The next day Quill woke up and noticed Aamira was already gone. He walked down to the café and found her already eating breakfast and talking with Eevee, who looked pretty depressed.

"What's going on?" Quill asked.

"Someone broke into my lab last night and stole my research papers…" Eevee said.

Quill glanced at Aamira.

"Hey, I know I said that I didn't like that research, but I wouldn't go stealing from our cousin! Besides, I was with you the whole time." Aamira snapped at Quill. "Now I'm really worried about what someone could do with that research…"

"I never should have started that research. I see what you meant now." Eevee said. "I hope we don't have to pay for it later…"

Aamira looked down at Manaphy's egg and held it up so the others could see it easier. All of the yellow spheres were glowing and now the larger red sphere in the center was starting to glow too. It got a little brighter and the whole egg started glowing. Then, in place of an egg, was a small blue pokemon with tiny feet and flippers for arms.

Manaphy opened its eyes and looked up at Aamira. It started cheering "Mana! Mana!" and started hugging Aamira. She looked curiously into the little Manaphy's eyes. While a Manaphy's eyes were usually dark blue, this one's were red like Aamira's.


	28. Chapter 28 Heart Swap

Quill was watching Aamira helplessly as she paced back and fourth in front of the pier. They were supposed to meet with someone who would take them out to sea so they could find the Ocean Temple that Manaphy came from, but he was running really late. Aamira was worried about Manaphy growing up in the wrong environment, and nothing Quill said could reassure her.

"I'm sure they're on their way." Electivire said. "A day on land shouldn't do any harm."

"How's Manaphy doing?" Aamira turned to Electivire who had escorted them to the piers south of Pacis where the egg was found. He had been watching after Manaphy while it was napping.

"Oh, he's…" Electivire looked at the spot in the sand where Manaphy had fallen asleep. It was gone. "Oh no."

"You were supposed to be watching him!" Aamira snapped at Electivire. He looked at her in disbelief.

"You never threaten a mother's child." Quill said. "Even if that child is adopted."

The three of them looked around for the little Manaphy.

"Over there!" Quill said.

A few yards away Manaphy was digging around in the sand and obviously having a lot of fun. The three of them hurried over to make sure it was okay.

Manaphy looked up at Aamira and smiled. "Mana! Mama!"

"Wait, did it just say 'mama'?" Quill said.

"I thought it was just saying 'mana' like it usually does." Electivire said.

"Mama, lookie!" Manaphy said happily. The three of them were surprised by how fast Manaphy was learning to talk. Manaphy held up a bunch of seashells that it had found while digging in the sand.

"Wow, those are beautiful!" Aamira said happily. "Wait a second, I know it's hard to tell with legendary pokemon, but could it be that Manaphy is actually a girl?"

Manaphy giggled at their confused looks. At that moment none of them had any doubt that Manaphy was actually a girl and that the "prince of the sea" title wasn't really concrete.

"AHOY!"

The four of them turned to the ocean to see a ship pulling up to the docks. Waving on the deck of the ship were the two Grovyle they had met before named Grovyle and Autumn. Grovyle had a couple of bad scars on one of his eye, making him partially blind and Autumn got her name because her color was different from most Grovyle and was instead an orange-brown color that resembled the leaves in the fall. She also wore an emerald pendant around her neck that had caused them a lot of trouble the last time they met.

"Cool, so Grovyle and Autumn are the ones you called." Quill said.

"That's right." Electivire said. "You two should be alright on your own from here on out."

Aamira picked up Manaphy and the three of them headed to the ship. It was good to see Grovyle and Autumn again, but they weren't the only ones here.

"Who are all of these pokemon?" Aamira asked.

"You don't recognize them?" Autumn said. "They're from that pirate crew you fought against a while back."

"What? Pirates on the same ship as Manaphy?" Aamira said.

"Don't worry about it." Grovyle said. "Remember, they were left behind in Ignis and didn't have anywhere to go, so I had them become my crew. Walrein left them behind so they have no loyalty left for him or the life of a pirate. Sailing a ship was easy enough on my own, but it's a lot better with a crew. And a loved one by your side."

Autumn blushed. "With the sea comes romance. That's how it's always been. Though we may be pokemon of the forest, a life at sea is the life for us three."

"Three?" Quill said.

"Look over there." Autumn pointed at a Treecko wearing a red scarf who was lifting a huge crate that should have been too heavy for it. "He's almost a year old now."

"Oh wow! That's great!" Quill said.

"We wanted to thank you." Grovyle said. "It's because of you two that we found each other again after all of those years. We thought that helping you find the Ocean Temple would be a good way to repay you."

"Besides." Autumn looked over at her son. She was obviously concerned. "Well, legendary pokemon or not, Manaphy's still a kid. And Treecko has never had kids his age to play with…"

"Oh I get it!" Aamira said. "So you set this up as sort of a play date. Actually I was worried about Manaphy growing up to be too serious too. This is perfect."

"Alright everyone! We're setting sail!" Grovyle shouted to the crew.

"Aye aye!" They all shouted and started to get to work while Grovyle jumped behind the wheel of the ship. The pokemon didn't seem to act like pirates anymore at least.

"Manaphy will have to lead the way, so once we're out to sea we'll have to rely on Manaphy to guide us." Autumn said. "By the way, her eyes look a little strange. Come to think of it, yours look a little darker too."

"It's a mystery." Quill said. "Apparently being near a fire type like me made its egg hatch faster and while Manaphy was still in the egg some of Aamira's aura was absorbed. So her aura must have something to do with their eye colors."

"Eyes are the windows to the soul, as they say." Autumn said. "Well as long as she's healthy, I guess it doesn't matter."

"My thoughts exactly." Aamira said.

"Hey, Treecko!"

Treecko noticed his mom calling him and came running over. "What is it?" he asked.

'How fast do pokemon grow up?' Aamira wondered.

"I think you're working too hard." Autumn said. "Why don't you take a break and play with little Manaphy?"

Manaphy jumped out of Aamira's arms and looked up at Treecko. Treecko didn't seem very impressed by the little blue pokemon.

"This is Manaphy?" he asked skeptically. "I was thinking since it was a legendary pokemon that it would be really big and cool looking, but this Manaphy doesn't look all that special to me. Are you sure this trip isn't a waste of time?"

"Oh Treecko…" Autumn said desperately. "Just try playing with Manaphy and be nice. She's still a baby."

"Teeko?" Manaphy said.

"That's so cute!" Aamira said. "Manaphy is trying to say Treecko's name."

Grovyle walked back up to them after handing the wheel to someone else. "Manaphy should probably stay on the ship for now. Our lookout says there are storm clouds approaching. We don't want to accidentally lose Manaphy."

"Maybe you should all go below deck just to be safe. It might get a little hectic up here." Autumn said. "That means you too, Treecko."

"But I can help!" Treecko said.

"No. It might get too dangerous." Autumn said to Treecko.

Treecko was obviously disappointed. "Oh fine. But having to play with Manaphy will be so boring…"

Before they left Espeon had given Aamira some toys for Manaphy to play with. Now Manaphy was trying to get Treecko to play with a bouncy ball that she had been hitting against the side of the ship.

"I don't want to play!" Treecko snapped at Manaphy.

Manaphy got startled and ran back to Aamira. "Mama!"

"Hey, Manaphy's still a baby, you know?" Quill said to Treecko.

"So what?" Treecko said. "Manaphy's a legendary pokemon, isn't she? I think legendary pokemon should grow up tough from the start; not go running back to 'Mama' every time someone yells at them."

"Teeko meanie!" Manaphy walked back over to Treecko and used Bubble on him, knocking him into the side of the ship.

This made Treecko mad. "If that's how you prefer to play, then fine!" He used pound, but Manaphy dodged it. But when he used Absorb, that left Manaphy badly weakened.

"Stop this right now!" Aamira yelled at both of them.

"Hah!" Treecko said. "Some legendary pokemon, she can't even overcome a simple type disadvantage!"

Manaphy's eyes started to water. "MANAAA!" The tips of her tails started glowing and a beam of light came off of the tips of each and hit Quill and Treecko in the foreheads. The two of them seemed to get dizzy and they each clutched their heads.

"Quill! Treecko! Are you alright?" Aamira said.

"I'm fine…" Treecko said.

"Hah. You call that an attack?" Quill said. "How pathetic!"

"What?" Aamira looked back and forth between Quill and Treecko.

Treecko looked up and looked around. "Wait, how did I get all the way over here?" he turned to Quill and stared in astonishment. "What? How did…?"

Quill laughed. "Don't tell me you don't even know Manaphy's special ability, Heart Swap. And close your mouth; you're making me look like an idiot!"

Treecko tugged at the scarf around his neck. "So our spirits got swapped? How do you breathe with your scarf this tight around your neck?"

"Oh yea, I completely forgot about Manaphy's Heart Swap." Aamira said. "So Treecko is in Quill's body and Quill is in Treecko's. Hey Treecko, looks like you were wrong. Manaphy was able to overcome type disadvantages since you're a fire type now. You got what you deserve!"

"Hey, what about me?" Quill said from Treecko's body. "You really think I deserved this?"

"Well no, but this reminds me of the time when Latias first hatched and she punched you into the wall. You're just unlucky." Aamira turned to Manaphy. "Manaphy, do you think you could switch them back?"

Manaphy shook her head with a worried expression. She seemed to think that she was going to get in trouble.

"You don't know how?" Aamira said. "Well, I think it wears off eventually, so we'll just have to wait until then."

Until then Quill and Treecko had the chance to have fun as someone else. Quill climbed on the walls and the ceiling while hanging upside down and Treecko had fun using some fire type attacks, which Manaphy had to keep putting out with her Bubble attack. Eventually a beam of light came from the heads of the two of them and they returned to their original bodies.

Quill sighed in relief, but Treecko seemed a bit disappointed. As the excitement and slight hint of panic started to die down, they noticed that the ship was swaying more than usual.

"The storm must be getting closer." Aamira said.

Manaphy started shivering and ran up and hugged Aamira. She seemed to be really scared of the storm, even though it hadn't even hit yet.

"What's wrong?" Aamira asked.

"Mana spinning and hit. Water went away… Mana scared…" She started to shake worse than before.

"Wait, is that how you washed up on the shore?" Quill asked. "Did you get caught in the storm in your egg? And some schools of pokemon bumped into you and pushed you towards the shore?"

"Manaphy eggs are supposed to drift along the bottom of the sea." Aamira said. "I was wondering how it could have happened."

"Oh the poor water pokemon is afraid of a bit of heavy rain." Treecko said. "Big deal. I've probably lived on the sea more than Manaphy has and I'm a grass type that's supposed to live in a forest."

"Well of course you lived here longer! You're older than she is!" Quill snapped at him.

Treecko seemed a little shocked. Apparently no one had ever yelled at him like this before. In spite of this he was obviously trying to act like a tough guy.

The ship lurched and all of them fell to the floor. They heard the wind and the waves hitting against the sides of the ship and the thunder in the sky.

"Looks like we're right in the middle of the storm…" Quill's voice cracked nervously. Obviously he was remembering the last time he had been on a ship and it ended up sinking because of pirates. Back then he had gotten stuck on board and nearly drowned since he couldn't swim.

"It's just a storm, what are you so worried about?" Treecko asked. "It'll pass. Of course, there would still be a better chance of us not sinking if I was helping everyone on deck."

"It's better that you're down here with us. I bet everyone on deck is trying really hard to fight the storm. We would probably just get in the way if we did try to help." Aamira said.

"Well maybe you would!" Treecko shouted so loudly that Manaphy got scared and hid behind Aamira. "I've lived out at sea practically my whole life! Just because you don't know up from down when on board a ship doesn't mean it's the same for me!"

"I didn't mean it like that…" Aamira said.

There was an awkward silence for a long moment, then a loud bang as the ship lurched forward. They each fell back onto the floor.

"Feels like we hit something." Treecko got up and ran towards one of the windows. "No way! There's a huge Wailord in the way! If that's not enough to sink a ship, I don't know what is."

There was another loud bang and the ship lurched again. This time everyone managed to stay on their feet though Treecko had to hold onto the window. "They're mad now. They're ramming us."

A third Wailord hit the side of the ship. This time part of the ship was knocked off and water came flooding in. The four of them started running in a panic up to the deck of the ship.

It was a madhouse. People were running around doing everything they could to keep the ship afloat. Up in the crow's nest Autumn was looking around for any sign of land. Grovyle was at the wheel of the ship trying to navigate around the Wailord and against the wind and tide.

The storm was violently churning up the water all around the ship. Lightning was striking the ocean around them, getting the Wailord even more enraged. Another rammed the ship and Aamira and Treecko fell against the ships rail. Quill was just barely able to stay where he was and hold on to Manaphy who was shaking with fear from the storm and all of the shouting.

"Aamira, are you alright?" Quill shouted to them over the storm.

"We're fine!" Aamira said. "Just don't let go of Manaphy, no matter what!"

This time two Wailord rammed the ship. Aamira and Treecko tried to hold on, but they were thrown right over the railing. A third Wailord rammed them not long after and Quill and Manaphy followed them.

As Aamira was falling towards the water, she could just barely see Manaphy and Quill above them through the heavy curtain of rain. She faintly heard Manaphy crying. As she fell she wondered, strange as it is, if the torrential downpour of rain was actually making their descent quicker than normal. The last thing she saw was Manaphy screaming and a beam of light shooting from her antennae towards her. Aamira felt a sharp pain in her forehead and felt strangely disembodied as she hit the surface of the waves and lost consciousness.

Quill woke up suddenly and rubbed his aching head, realizing that his arms and legs seemed longer than normal and something was stuck on the sides of his head.

Manaphy smiled happily and hugged Quill when he finally woke up. "Mama!" She shouted happily.

"I-I'm not—" Quill gasped at the sound of his own voice. It was female.

He got up and ran to a nearby stream. In the water Aamira's face was looking back up hat him. He sighed and sat back down on the ground. "Great, so Aamira and I swapped bodies?"

Manaphy looked confused.

Quill stood up and smiled and patted Manaphy on the head. "Don't worry about it, okay? Let's just find the others."

Manaphy smiled and followed him into a nearby dungeon. It felt weird to lead the way into a dungeon, but Quill kind of liked the change of pace.

Just moments ago the storm had been raging out at sea. Now suddenly everything was calm. Aamira could hear bird pokemon chirping to each other in the distance and hear the sound of the waves calmly splashing against rocks in the distance.

'Am I alive?' She thought to herself. Her eyes wouldn't open, but she was strangely aware of everything around her through her aura. But no, it wasn't aura. Something was different and terribly wrong. She was laying on something that really hurt. It felt like her tail had hit something and became swollen. She couldn't feel the aura sensors on the sides of her face or her ears on the top of her head. The sun seemed really bright, even behind her eyelids, as if her eyes had suddenly become a lot larger. And even though she couldn't sense anything with aura, she felt strangely aware of everything.

"Aamira? Is that you?" Quill's voice. Yet somehow different. He didn't seem very worried, even though she might have been hurt for all she could tell. "Come on, wake up. We need to find the others."

Treecko and Manaphy. Where were they? Quill wasn't able to hold on to Manaphy? But Aamira didn't care. She felt too calm to care about anything, as cruel as it sounds. 'Just let me sleep. I'm too tired.'

"Get up you lazy bum!" That was something Quill had never said before…

Aamira kept her eyes closed a while longer in spite of her self, then opened them and looked curiously up at Quill. He looked alright.

Aamira sat up, closed her eyes from the pain, and put a hand to her forehead where that beam of light had hit her. Her head, and her hand for that matter, didn't have any fur on them from what she felt. She opened her eyes and looked at her arm. It was thin, green, covered in scales, and has a suction cup on the end of three large fingers at the end of her hands.

Shocked, Aamira ran towards the water's edge on the beach they had apparently washed up on. She looked into the water. Her face was green and she had bright yellow eyes and was wearing a yellow scarf. She was a Treecko!

"Oh, déjà vu…" She said, remembering the time she had first been turned into a Riolu.

"Stop making that stupid expression. You're making me look like an idiot."

Aamira looked back at Quill and suddenly realized that it wasn't Quill at all. "Treecko?"

"About time you caught on." Treecko said. "Looks like Manaphy panicked and swapped our bodies again. And if I'm in Quill's body, and you're in mine, that means Quill must be in yours."

Aamira stared at him, suddenly fearful though she didn't know why.

"So why did you say déjà vu. It's not like you've ever swapped bodies with someone before." Treecko said.

"Well, no." Aamira said. "But close enough to it. I used to be a human. Then one day I woke up without my memory and somehow turned into a Riolu. It was apparently some sort of freak accident that caused it, but I don't think it wears off like this does. At least it hasn't yet."

"Must take a lot of getting used to." Treecko sounded almost understanding for once.

"Yea. In fact, back then I acted a lot like how you do. Stubborn, rude, not caring about anyone else."

"Feeling like you're misplaced? In a world you don't belong in?"

Aamira fell silent, wondering how he would know this and why he would say it. Treecko turned towards a forest a little ways away from the beach.

"This ability is affected by distance, isn't it?" Treecko asked. "After a while we'll be stuck in these bodies if we can't find Quill and Manaphy." He looked up at the sky between the horizon and the sun. "It's about noon now, so I'm guessing by sunset the effect will be irreversible."

"Well this is just perfect." Aamira tugged at the scarf around her neck. "Quill was right. This is way too tight." Treecko tried to stop her, for what reason she didn't really understand, but Aamira loosened the scarf a little and a leaf fell out of it. She picked it up and stared at it. "What's this?

"Give me that!" Treecko snatched it from her and looked at the leaf sadly. "It's none of your business, okay?"

"Isn't that a leaf from a Ginkgo tree? But it's just a regular leaf, isn't it?" Aamira asked.

"It's none of your business!" Treecko hid the leaf in Quill's bag and turned back towards the forest. "Well? We should get looking, shouldn't we?"

"But if they're looking for us, wouldn't it be harder for them to find us if we moved?"

"And what if they think the same thing and stay put. Then we'd just be waiting for sunset to come."

Aamira knew he was right, but something still bothered her. "How do we even know they're here? It looks like we washed up on a deserted island."

"Look here." Treecko pointed at the spot in the sand where they had both been washed up. "The waves carried us here to this spot. The tide is still in right now, which means we didn't wash up here all that long ago. Since the tide is still coming in, and the current probably pulled us towards this island, even if Quill and Manaphy are on the other side of the island they should have been washed up here with the tide like we were. You would never make it alone out at sea."

Aamira had to admit she was impressed, but still; the forest looked like a dungeon and she wasn't used to being a Treecko yet. And she doubted that Treecko was used to being a Cyndaquil even if he had had a bit of practice on the ship. They didn't know how hard the dungeon would be and since Quill had their other bag they only had half the items they usually did.

"I guess we can't just stand here." Aamira said.

"Great. Then follow me." Treecko took the lead and ran into the dungeon. Aamira felt a little mad. It might have been Quill's body, but still Treecko's conscious. It seemed strange to her. Quill had always let her take point on the missions without complaint and he would stay behind in case of an ambush. It seemed like an unnecessary thing to be mad about, but it was such a huge difference following instead of leading. She followed him into the dungeon anyway. Treecko had been a lower level anyway, so if Aamira was now Treecko's level it couldn't be helped.

As it turned out, the dungeon wasn't so hard. Aamira moped about how she could have led after all, but didn't say anything to Treecko.

After they exited the dungeon, the two stopped to take a break, getting drinks from a nearby stream. Treecko was more tired than he had been letting on the entire time they had been in that dungeon.

"When Quill and I enter a dungeon we usually give it a name if it doesn't already have one or we don't know it." Aamira said, rubbing her aching back. She couldn't believe how heavy Treecko's tail was. "Maybe 'Tropical Forest'. Simple, but it says it all."

Treecko yawned. "Yea, sure. Whatever. That Wingull was pretty tough…"

"You're joking, right?" Aamira realized that he must not have had a lot of experience with getting attacked like that. Quill and her had just gotten used to it after a while.

Aamira stretched her long and strangely flexible arms and looked up at the trees. She had never been able to see so far up before. She had the sudden urge to run to the top of one of the trees. "I guess you don't get to see many trees out at sea. I don't know how you do it. Out as sea with nothing to see all day but ocean."

Treecko awkwardly ignored her statement for a brief moment before hesitantly replying. "You know that dungeon… that we were just in? Uhm… 'Tropical Forest?'"

Aamira looked away from the trees and back at Treecko. His expression on Quill's face reminded Aamira of when she and Quill first met. "What about it?"

"Well… Are… Are all forests like that?" he blushed and looked away.

Aamira suddenly felt pity for the poor former Treecko. "You've never been in a forest?"

Treecko nervously looked back. "I was born in Sylva like Quill, but we moved away soon after that. My parents preferred the sea to the forest. I can't even remember it at all. I know I'm not that old, but it's still hard for me to remember."

"Pokemon really grow up fast. That's always astounded me." Aamira said.

Treecko shook his head. "Not normally. Sometimes we're just forced to grow up faster than we really need to…"

"You feel like you should remember the forest, but you can't. Is that it?" Aamira asked. Treecko nodded. Aamira smiled faintly and looked back up at the trees. "I know how you feel. I told you I had amnesia. There's a city in Sylva that seemed so familiar to me. I think I must have come from a city like it, but I can't remember. But if I close my eyes and try really hard to remember, I can remember the smell of saltwater. I think I must have lived near the ocean. And when I woke up with amnesia, I got stuck in a forest."

Treecko laughed. He must have known that Aamira couldn't really remember the smell of the ocean, but it seemed funny either way. Aamira had started talking with such a serious tone and finished on something that could pass as a joke, even by Treecko's standards.

"Why don't you just tell your parents how you feel?" Aamira asked.

"They wouldn't understand. They're grass types in love with each other and the sea. I've never really been that romantic type like them. I'd prefer just to stay where I was born to be."

Aamira nodded. "I hated being a pokemon when I first became one. I wanted more than anything to be human again, but then I realized I was chasing after something I couldn't even remember. For all I know my life back then could have been better, but it could have been worse too. But I always have Quill with me. I was happy about that. My life is good enough the way it is, so I wouldn't ever trade it for my old one."

Treecko looked suddenly uncertain. 'It could be better, but it could also be worse…' He understood what she meant… He looked back at Aamira and was surprised to see that a Treecko's eyes could look so wise. He realized that he never really thought about anything before jumping into trouble. He suddenly felt guilty for the way he had talked to Manaphy.

"Let's get going." Aamira said. "We've only got a few hours before sunset."

This time Aamira led the way into the dungeon, but Treecko picked the name.

Somewhere on the island, a pokemon circled high above them, intent on his mission. His boss had been quite clear that it was almost time for their plan to come into action. All of the remaining legendary pokemon could be awakened by their new ally. How easy it had been to trick him. Either way, it meant that Aamira and Quill's time in this world was at an end. Honchkrow had now been assigned to bring Aamira and Quill back with him and afterwards follow Manaphy to the Sea Temple.

Honchkrow landed in the trees high above the exit of a dungeon. He had no idea where they might have gone, even though he was sure they must have washed up on this island.

'Aamira is resilient. Quill even more so, though he rarely shows it. They shouldn't have drowned.' He didn't need to reassure himself; it was something he was certain of.

He heard voices and far below he spotted Aamira and Manaphy walking through the dungeon together. They must have gotten separated from Quill and Treecko, if Treecko had survived.

His claws suddenly itching with the longing to attack something, Honchkrow swooped down from the trees to attack. Quill turned at the sound of rushing air. At that moment Honchkrow attacked, knocking Quill to the ground.

"I've been looking all over for you, Aamira. Any idea where Quill is?" Honchkrow asked.

Beside him Manaphy shouted and used Bubblebeam, which Honchkrow easily brushed away with one of his wings. Scared, Manaphy ran and hid behind one of the nearby trees.

"You wouldn't want anything to happen to sweet little Manaphy, would you?" Honchkrow said in a fake sympathetic tone.

"I-I'm not Aamira!" Quill managed to say even though all of the air had been knocked out of his lungs.

Honchkrow looked towards Manaphy, who was staring at him fearfully from behind a tree. He suddenly realized what happened and stepped away from who he thought was Aamira. "Who are you?" He demanded.

"Quill." He said. "Manaphy switched our bodies. Just leave us alone, will you? I don't know where Aamira is."

"Figures." Honchkrow turned away from Quill, sure that he wouldn't have the gall to try attacking him. "I know I was supposed to take Quill too, but I really hoped to find Aamira first. Knowing her she's probably living it up some where having the time of her life with Treecko."

"What are you talking about?" Quill asked. "We're stranded on a desert island."

"Yea but nothing like that's never stopped Aamira before though." An idea began to form in Honchkrow's mind, but he kept that steady even tone of frustration as best as he could. According to the legend, Quill was supposed to betray Aamira. Why not help it along? "All of the time she's gone off with other pokemon. Charmeleon, Weavile, even Lucario before she knew who he was. Who knows what sorts of adventures she goes on that don't even have to do with a mission."

"So what? I've got on adventures with other pokemon too. Ambipom, for one. And the Cyndaquil's leader on Lava Lava Island."

"Of course at the same time she was with Grovyle fighting for some greater good, right? It's a bit ironic how many more adventures she's been on compared to someone born a pokemon." Quill had said 'so what'. Meaning that he suspected Honchkrow was trying to trick him, not out of suspicion but paranoia. He was thinking exactly what Honchkrow was saying. He was just confirming Quill's fears, false or not. "A prodigy Investigator from the start and now she can't stop. She's so full of herself."

"Aamira's not like that!" Quill said.

Honchkrow turned back to Quill, thinking he had milked this long enough. "Think whatever you want, but I saw how naturally you led the way into a dungeon. That's how I confused you for Aamira. Your expression was the same as hers. But I doubt you feel like that all the time when Aamira always leads the way. She's the real leader even though you started the team."

"No!" Quill said. "We're both team leaders. So is Lucario though he never officially joined. We never decided who would lead in the dungeons, it just kind of happened that way. In the beginning I was a bit nervous so Aamira led. My confidence grew, but it was just what we were used to by then."

"Are you sure that's the reason?" Honchkrow asked. "She was always a great leader, right? Before her amnesia she even led that resistance of pokemon in Atra with Lucario. And now leading a team with you. I'm sure she's getting bored of having the same partner. People with dark auras are always tempted by greed eventually. People say that darkness isn't always evil, but that's not completely true. Although dark type pokemon are usually spared from that sort of accusation unless they do something truly unforgivable, like that Shadow Lu—"

"What?" Quill asked.

'I can't believe I almost said it. I've got to me more careful.' Honchkrow thought. "Never mind that! Just follow me if you really do trust Aamira. I'll show you the truth."

Quill didn't trust Honchkrow, but it was true that he did sometimes wonder about Aamira. Now that he couldn't sense her emotions anymore, it was kind of an uneasy feeling not knowing what could be going on in an Aura Reader's head.

Manaphy came out of hiding, still looking a bit scared. Quill looked between her and Honchkrow and eventually decided that Honchkrow could probably easily capture them if he wanted to anyway. It couldn't have been a trap, so he might as well follow just to see for himself. As hard as Quill tried, he couldn't she why Honchkrow would try to trick him now of all times.

They were at the top of a cliff when they found Aamira. Far below them Aamira and Treecko were fighting a tough Sharpedo that had jumped out at them from a nearby river that they had been following.

Honchkrow could tell that it was Aamira in Treecko's body and Treecko in Quill's, but Quill didn't know that Heart Swap could affect more than two people. He thought that Aamira was in his own body.

Aamira attacked the Sharpedo with Bullet Seed just as it was about to attack Treecko. She knocked it out in just a few hits. Treecko cheered and Aamira started laughing confidently.

From Quill's perspective, it looked like it had been Treecko who had knocked out the Sharpedo and Aamira was cheering for him. The two of them moved on, fighting more pokemon that attacked them along the way. Quill couldn't help notice how well they worked together. He sat on the edge of the cliff and continued to watch them.

"You see? Any doubt now?" Honchkrow asked. "For two people who just got stranded together and are grudgingly helping each other to find their missing companions, they sure do seem to be having a lot of fun."

"Aamira has a strange effect on people. It's weird. It's impossible for her to hate anyone even if they try their hardest to get Aamira to hate them. Then Aamira ends up turning them around and they become friends. That's all it is."

Honchkrow's claws tensed on the stone ground they were standing on. He grudgingly remembered how Aamira had been able to convince his best bounty hunter, Glameow, to join them. He kept his cool in spite of this. Quill was doubtful, more than before at least, so he was doing his job. "You still trust your partner? If you could even call her that. I think if anything she would be Lucario's partner till the very end, even if they never see each other again. Mismagius's spell, amnesia, and even the boundary of two separate worlds couldn't keep those two apart the last time."

"She misses Lucario, sure. What would you expect? She would never admit how she really feels about him, even if she knows I could sense her emotions when she first started feeling that way." Quill felt a sudden pang of jealousy. Lucario wasn't even in the same world any more and yet it was true that Aamira probably thought of him more than Quill.

"I know a lost cause when I see one." Honchkrow said after a while. "It's true that she did love Lucario. If there's anything I hate it's not being able to make someone see the truth." Honchkrow spread his wings to prepare to take off.

"Wait, you're letting us go?" Quill asked.

"According to the legend that you're both wrapped up in, you were supposed to betray Aamira. If you won't join us, oh well. I guess it's up to destiny to decide your fates now."

Something in the way Honchkrow said that last line seemed strange to Quill, but he ignored it. Honchkrow took off. Below him Aamira and Treecko looked up suddenly at the large black bird who circled once over head before taking off into the distance.

Manaphy seemed confused, but more than anything relieved that the big bird had gone away. She looked up at Quill with her red eyes, probably still oblivious that it wasn't her foster mother standing there in front of her.

"Come on." Quill said. "Let's go meet with the others."

As soon and Aamira and Treecko saw the others, there was a blinding flash. Aamira stumbled forward. She had apparently been running, though she didn't remember running. She fell face forward onto the ground. Manaphy was next to her, looking really confused.

Aamira looked up and saw Quill and Treecko standing next to each other, both a little dazed.

"What's with you?" Quill asked Treecko. "You didn't get swapped with anyone."

"We all got jumbled up." Treecko said. "I was you and Aamira was me and I'm guessing you were Aamira."

"Wait, you were swapped with me?" Quill asked. So it had actually been Aamira doing all of the attacking and Treecko was cheering for her instead of the other way around. He realized that he had almost been tricked by Honchkrow.

Manaphy apparently finally realized what she had accidentally done and looked around guiltily. "Mana sowy…"

Aamira smiled and hugged Manaphy. "It's okay. I'm just glad you're both safe. I was so worried about the two of you."

"You were worried about me?" Quill asked.

Aamira released Manaphy from the hug and looked at Quill a little embarrassed. "I know you're strong enough to take care of yourself, but you are like a little brother to me. I guess I'm just overprotective because of that. I can't stop worrying about your for more than a few second when we're apart."

Quill laughed. "Come to think of it, when we first met didn't Espeon make you promise to watch over me?"

"I completely forgot about that." Aamira admitted.

"I think we might have overlooked something though." Quill said. "Where do you think the other people on the ship are?"

"Don't worry about it." Treecko said while tightening his scarf. "Dad's always been paranoid about his ship sinking ever since Walrein sunk it when you were attacked. He always brings tons of supplies so he can fix the ship while still at sea if he has to. In fact, I'm sure that they're on their way here now."

And he was right. When they reached the island's shore they only had to walk along the water's edge for a few minutes before the ship came into view. Though it was at a distance, Aamira could still make out the relieved look on Grovyle's face when he saw that his son was with them.

"It looks like he wasn't even worried about us." Quill said. "I wonder why."

"Treecko are meant for forests, not oceans." Treecko's face turned red. "Truthfully, I can't swim…"

Aamira involuntarily snorted with laughter. Quill glared at her. He couldn't swim either.

"I'm sorry." Aamira said to Treecko "It's just that that's kind of how Quill and I got separated the last time. Quill, when this is over I'm teaching you how to swim. Apparently it's second nature to the Cyndaquil that live on Lava Lava Island, in spite of them being fire types."

"And I technically come from that island." Quill said.

Treecko stared in surprise. He hadn't known that Quill had been born by the sea and not in a forest. The Cyndaquil on that island were always a lot smaller than a normal Cyndaquil, so it hadn't even crossed his mind. Treecko smiled to himself.

The tide was starting to pull out. It would be easy for the ship to get really close and still be able to set sail again. Grovyle lowered the gangplank so they could get back on board. Quill, Aamira, and Manaphy got on, but Treecko stopped about two thirds of the way up and looked back to the forested island.

"You don't want to leave, do you?" Grovyle asked.

Treecko looked away and walked the rest of the way up. "Treecko aren't really built for the sea, but it could be worse I guess. I could live in Ignis."

Grovyle laughed. "That's true, but what's with this sudden change of attitude?"

"I guess I've finally come to my senses. Besides." He watched as the playful Manaphy had already started playing keep away with Quill's Aura Glass, much to the crew's amusement. "As long as Manaphy's here I don't think I'll be getting lonely any time soon."

Grovyle looked up at Autumn who was once again in the crow's nest. "That's exactly why I would never want to leave the ocean."

As they set sail, the sun had just started to set.


	29. Chapter 29 Lunar Eclipse

Aamira was a bit reluctant to let Manaphy go off on her own. She knew it was the only way to find the sea temple, but Manaphy was still technically a baby.

"Manaphy might end up getting sick if she's not growing under the water like she should be." Grovyle said.

Aamira nodded. She knew it was true and it was the only way Manaphy could find the Sea Temple. "Are you ready, Manaphy?"

"Mana!" She was obviously more than ready. She jumped up on the ship's rail and dove overboard into the ocean below. She started jumping from one swell to another, obviously having a lot more fun in the water, where she was meant to be, then stuck on an island or the deck of a ship.

Every now and then she would dive deep underwater and not appear again for some time. Aamira couldn't help worrying, even though she knew Manaphy wouldn't go too far.

Manaphy was still too young to be able to take care of herself, so when night came, she had to come back on deck to eat dinner with everyone else.

"What's it like underwater?" Quill asked Manaphy. He had never gone underwater before since he didn't know how to swim. Actually, he had once when Croconaw and Crawdaunt dared him, but he was too scared to open his eyes so it didn't matter either way.

"It looks all sparkly on top!" Manaphy said. "But it's really dark farther down."

"That's because light can't reach all the way to the ocean's floor." Grovyle said. He was impressed by how fast a legendary pokemon learned when it was born, but he wouldn't admit it. "Normally you would live on the ocean floor when you first hatch. It's pitch black down there, so Manaphy usually use a move called Tail Glow to be able to see."

Manaphy tilted her head. "Tail Glow?"

"Could be trouble if you don't know." Grovyle said. "Since it's dark out now you could practice and stay near the surface."

"Mana practice!"

When she tried to run off, Aamira grabbed her by one of her arms. "Oh no you don't. Not until after you finish eating."

Manaphy sat back down, sulking a little, to finish eating. Everyone laughed at Aamira's unexpectedly motherly tone. No one expected one of the four pokemon who had saved their world to talk that way.

When she was finally done, Manaphy ran to the edge of the ship and jumped back into the water. She wanted to hurry in case Aamira tried to stop her saying she should wait half an hour before swimming after she ate. Of course, being a water type, she didn't have to worry about that.

Aamira watched from the helm of the ship. Though Manaphy didn't really know how to use Tail Glow yet, she did manage to create a faint glow at the ends of her antennae and the spots on her back every few minutes. That way it was at least easy to keep track of her.

"Hey, Aamira! Up here!"

She looked up. Outlined against the starry sky was Treecko, standing on the rim of the crow's nest.

Aamira jumped and ran up the side of the mast, then jumped again and caught a rope hanging from a flag at the top of the crows nest and swung herself over the side, landing gracefully next to Treecko.

"Show off." He said flatly.

Aamira laughed. "Things have been a little too calm for a while. I have to admit it was getting kind of boring, so I really felt like I had to show off at least once."

"Well at least you're not pretending to be modest about it." Treecko said. "But I would think that the storm we had just yesterday would have been enough of an adventure."

"For us? Well, maybe fore Quill since he can't swim. We've both had worse though. What I really meant was that we haven't been in any really serious battles in a while. Haven't seen Ruko in ages so practicing is out of the question. That rogue Lucario, Hunter, hasn't been around either. I haven't seen Raichu since he ran off with Honchkrow, who hasn't been around for a while now either, now that I think of it. We fought Registeel a while back, but we had a senior Investigator to help us. Then there was that incident with Dialga and Palkia, but Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf calmed things down pretty quickly. It might be paranoia, but it feels like if things stay this way, something really big is going to happen."

"That's weird." Treecko said. "I can't imagine what it would be like to be an Investigator. I don't think I would be cut out for it though. Anyway, look at this." He pointed up into the sky. It looked like a full moon, but there was a small shadow on the edge of it. "We didn't notice last night because we were all too tired from being on that island, but it looks like there will be a lunar eclipse here soon. I heard that during a lunar eclipse is the only time you can see the Sea Temple."

"I wonder what it looks like." Aamira said. "In my world there's a story of a long lost city that sank into the ocean. Even though thousands of people have tried to find it, none have ever succeeded."

Treecko jumped up and sat on the edge of the Crow's nest. "I guess you don't really remember much about your world, huh?"

"I remember a few things, but nothing specifically about my life. What I do remember are like things you would hear about here, so it's not like it's anything really special." Aamira leaned against the side of the crows nest and looked down at the water. Manaphy was making the glow last longer than before, and it seemed obviously brighter than before.

"There are a lot of amazing things in this world." Treecko said. "I never realized. Being stuck on that island really changed me somehow. And now with Manaphy under the water like that, it makes me wonder what it really is like down there. I always just noticed the surface of the water; I never tried to imagine that there was anything deeper."

"Most people do only look at what's on the surface. If they ever do look deeper it's hard to turn away." Aamira said.

Treecko turned to her and stared with an awkward expression. "Uh… what?"

Aamira burst into laughter. "Oh, sorry. The Aura Reader side of me slipped out for a second. Apparently most Aura Readers are entertained by riddles and metaphors, but that hasn't happened in some time now. I'm sorry for mumbling that nonsense out of the blue like that."

"No, no, I get it. Kind of."

Aamira realized he was telling the truth when he said that being on that island had changed him somehow. He seemed like a strange mix between Quill and herself as opposed to that stubborn little kid they first met.

"Being an Aura Reader must be a real burden sometimes…" Treecko said.

Aamira nodded, but didn't say anything.

Below them Manaphy finally got tired and jumped back onto the deck. Aamira figured that she would probably be so tired that she would want to go to bed right away, but instead she went and stood on the ship's prow and looked out in the west in the direction they were sailing. Aamira could tell that she could sense the Sea Temple calling her. She could slightly sense it too, though it was an indistinct sensation, like a voice carried on the breeze from miles away while to Manaphy it was more like a strong pull urging her to go in that direction.

Aamira started humming a tune, though she didn't even realize she was at first. She was strangely wide awake even though it was the middle of the night and didn't feel like going to bed yet. Once she realized she was humming, she didn't try to stop.

"What song is that?" Treecko asked.

"I dunno." Aamira said. "That happens sometimes when we go looking for a temple somewhere. Legendary pokemon apparently really like music. On top of the mountain above Articuno's temple there are some bells attached to ribbons. When you play Articuno's song on them, it causes an aurora to form. In Tempestas it's the same thing except with bells attached to ropes that cause a lightning storm. It has its own sort of wild beauty that I can't quite figure out. Especially since I hate lightning."

"A sailor's worst nightmare; the mast being hit by lightning during a storm. The main sail goes and you could be stuck at sea for weeks or even months."

Aamira perked up her ears and Treecko sat up straighter. They both realized at nearly the same time that Manaphy was humming the same song. Aamira joined in again, but found that she wasn't able to make her voice go high enough for one part of the song. It seemed like just when they started to wonder if there were words to the song, Manaphy started to actually sing.

A shiver went down Aamira's spine. She didn't think a newborn, legendary or not, would be able to sing like that.

She hoped that Treecko didn't notice she started blushing as her mind suddenly turned to Lucario while Manaphy was singing. Fortunately for her, Treecko was busy staring and Manaphy with an odd expression. When Aamira realized what it was, she had to summon every bit of her willpower to keep from laughing.

Instead, she simply said, "In the world where I come from, I think how you're feeling was called 'puppy love'."

The edge of Treecko's mouth twitched in what was either annoyance or a reluctant smile, maybe even both, but he ignored it and kept watching as Manaphy kept singing and a few water pokemon started to jump out of the water in time with the song.

What a terrible night to have that nightmare. It seemed strangely more vivid than before. Fire was burning all around. Aamira ran from it as fast as she could. Then he appeared again; that human that was there waiting for her every time.

"How could you do this? I thought you were my friend!"

This time Aamira could see a little more clearly. He seemed really mad, but he also appeared to be crying.

"No! I didn't do this!" Aamira looked down to her hands. They were a human's hands and they were badly burned by the fire. "No!" Aamira screamed at the top of her lungs and ran into the nearby forest. She heard the human boy chasing after her, but his shouts and footsteps eventually faded away.

Aamira kept running. She didn't want to stop. She felt unbelievably slow as a human. 'Why is this happening!' Her eyes were watering. She couldn't help it. 'Isn't it just a dream? Why can't I wake up!'

She gasped as she tripped over the roots of a tree and fell face forward, scraping up her knees and elbows. She looked up and noticed the legs of a pokemon standing in front of her. She raised her head fearfully and saw the silhouette of a pokemon with terrible electric blue eyes levitating directly in front of her. Something stirred in her memory, but she couldn't figure out what the pokemon was. It was outlined against a glowing red moon and she couldn't see any of its features.

The pokemon reached down and held out its hand. As usual, it spoke in a strange voice. No words could be heard, but Aamira could somehow tell what it was saying.

"It doesn't have to end like this. Make the pact and it will all go away. You'll never have to remember any of this ever happened."

"No!" Aamira smacked away the pokemon's hand and started to run again. Her legs felt like they were on fire. She realized that they probably had been burned like her arms.

"You won't escape! You can't run forever; you know this!"

The pokemon was chasing her, she realized. She ran faster and suddenly the ground disappeared below her. She fell into an infinite darkness and turned just in time to see the red moon outlined in the sky before it disappeared. Everything around her was pitch black. It wasn't exactly dark; she could see her arms out in front of her just fine. It was more like there was nothing there. She was trapped in some sort of absolute darkness, or maybe absolute nothingness, and she felt like she couldn't escape it. She started yelling for help, knowing that no one would ever hear her.

"AAMIRA!"

Aamira gasped and woke up suddenly after rolling out of her hammock and landing on top of her tail. Unfortunately, the tail was one of the most sensitive parts of a Riolu's body.

She put a hand or, to her strange relief, a paw to her forehead. She was really cold, covered in sweat, and shivering like a Sunkern in a blizzard. Quill was standing next to her, looking really worried.

"Everything alright?" Grovyle came into their cabin and looked around. "I, or should I say, we heard some terrible screaming coming from in here. Aamira, you look really pale. What happened?"

"Bad dream." Aamira's voice was shaking terribly. She tried to get up but felt too drained to do anything. Instead she laid back against the floor of the cabin. She had never felt this bad before.

"Some dream." Grovyle said. "You woke up nearly the entire crew."

"I wish I could have some of your nightmares." Quill said. "I would willingly have them myself if you didn't have to all the time."

Aamira wiped the tears from her eyes. Until then she hadn't noticed that she had been crying.

Aamira shook her head and rolled onto her side into a ball so that hopefully they wouldn't notice if they hadn't already. Aside from everything in her dream, the one thing she noticed was the fire and the burns on her arms. "They're not nightmares!" Aamira finally realized. "They're memories… Quill… I think I really did erase my own memory. I think I erased my memory because I did something terrible. I couldn't live with knowing what I had done!"

Quill knelt beside Aamira and hugged her. "You had nightmares even when you were in Atra, didn't you."

Aamira nodded. She had forgotten about that until Quill mentioned it.

"I know you weren't a bad person back then." Quill tried to smile, but wasn't able to. "Whatever you did, if you really did do anything, I know it wasn't on purpose. The guilt must have followed you to Atra. If you really did erase your memory just to get rid of this one memory that just proves that you can't be the one to blame."

"Maybe…" Aamira remembered the person in her dream. 'Though obviously someone did blame me.' A few other thoughts came to her too. One was what Mismagius had once said to her.

"I'd hear you mumbling all the time in your sleep. 'Please! Take away those bad memories! I want to forget! But just don't take away the good memories!'" 

Then there was something Honchkrow had said right after setting fire to their tree house. Right after Shadow died.

"Normally I'd say, 'Ask Aamira and she'll tell you a story much like this.' Though I doubt she can now with her amnesia and I doubt she would anyway. Lucario, haven't you ever wondered why your friend was so secretive?"

"Honchkrow knows something…" Aamira somehow found the strength to stand up again. "He knows something about this!"

"It couldn't have something to do with his boss, could it?" Quill asked.

"Wouldn't surprise me." Aamira said. "Whoever it is, they're toying with us. I don't know how they're able to cause these nightmares, but I'm sure that's what's causing it."

"It's not fair." Quill said. "Giving these nightmares to you just to torment you like this."

"We have to figure this out." Aamira said. "And our first step is heading to the Sea Temple."

No one really talked the next morning. Aamira stayed near the front of the ship and watched Manaphy jumping out of the water as she led the way. Her speed was pretty impressive.

When night fell Manaphy seemed too intent on finding the temple to remember that she could get hungry. Instead of eating, everyone just kept up their work and kept following her. Aamira noticed Treecko standing a few yards from her, watching Manaphy as if in some sort of trance.

"You know, there's an old story." Grovyle made Aamira jump by sneaking up behind her. "They say there used to be a pokemon that lived in the sea that would bewitch sailors with its singing. Manaphy's too young to know about that, but I think that back when Manaphy used to be more common, they must have been the pokemon from that story."

Aamira yawned and leaned forward on the ships rail. "I wouldn't worry about Treecko. He's pretty smart. Anyway, I think we must be getting pretty close. I sort of miss having my feet on solid ground, to tell you the truth."

"Being an Investigator must be rough. You get to visit so many exciting places, but you never have time to stop and enjoy any of them."

'He has a point.' Aamira thought. 'I know some people choose something like this by deciding to become nomads. I don't see how they do it. We hardly spend any time in Pacis and we never get to go home to Sylva. It would be too pushy asking for a vacation so soon after the last one.'

Aamira suddenly started feeling sick, but didn't think that the rocking of the ship had anything to do with it. She never thought that when someone felt homesick that it could actually make them feel sick.

Later that night, when the moon was almost entirely covered in the shadow, Manaphy suddenly stopped in the middle of the ocean. It faintly came into view in front of them and, luckily, had a dock for the boat.

Manaphy went ahead of them and waited for them at the entrance to the temple.

Aamira was so happy to be on land again. She wasn't sure if it actually counted as land, but it was at least more sturdy than the boat.

"What now?" Quill asked. "There was supposed to be a treasure here of some sort. I know Honchkrow might be after it. Should we try to find it?"

"We should at least make sure that Manaphy can find her way there." Aamira said.

She looked up at the sky at the moon that was almost entirely covered in the shadow now. A few seconds past and the moon went dark and started glowing a dark red. Aamira remembered the moon in her dream and only had a moment to take in how similar the moon looked now before everything suddenly went dark.

Aamira was suddenly standing in the middle of a fog. She looked around but couldn't find anyone else. The fog was too thick to see her nose in front of her face. It reminded her of the fog from Shroud Lake, though there hadn't been any fog like that since they came back from Desolo.

A voice seemed to suddenly come from nowhere. It sounded so surprised to see her. "Oh, you're… you're here?"

Aamira looked around for the source of the voice. Somewhere behind her was a pokemon hidden in the fog. She could just barely make out its silhouette. It looked kind of like Lucario, but with a female voice. She remembered once when they had ended up in the past and met a Lucario with the same name as Aamira, but this voice sounded slightly different.

The fog cleared a bit and sure enough, there was a Lucario there. Something seemed different though she couldn't tell what.

"Who are you?" Aamira asked timidly. She wasn't scared of the Lucario, but there was definitely something different that put Aamira on her guard.

"A human-born Riolu?" The Lucario laughed. Her laugh was high pitched and somewhat eerie. "You must have been so confused back then. People always feel like they don't belong at first, but for the few who find out its true…"

The Lucario started walking closer to Aamira. Aamira took a step back. She felt like running, but at the same time didn't want to move. "Who are you?" Aamira asked again.

"Is that really important, who I am? It won't mean much to you soon. But I didn't think I'd meet you so soon." The Lucario stopped feet away from her. "It's strange the effect the Moon's Eye Pact can have on a person. It allows them to transcend the two things that govern them. Of course, only at certain times. Which is why we meet. Tonight, when the Eye closes in both of our worlds, we cross time and space to meet here." The Lucario drew a rusty bronze sword that was tied to her waste. It was dull and curved in a way that seemed like it could have been made by someone who was just learning how to forge a sword.

Aamira instinctively got ready for a fight, but the Lucario only laughed.

"Silly child. We don't have time for that. I would love to test your abilities further, but you would be surprised by how much you can learn from looking into another person's eyes." She smirked while looking over her sword, as if it weren't obvious it was covered in dents and rust. "I see now why in the future you were called Brighteyes."

Aamira was starting to get aggravated. "How do you know so much? And what do you want?"

"I know what I know and I want what I want. Simple as that." The Lucario put her sword back at her waste. "Truthfully I never really know what I want until I see it. And I never really know what I know until I need it."

Aamira guessed that since she talked in riddles that she must be an Aura Reader, but Aura Reader or not, it was starting to get annoying.

"So then, Aamira Brighteyes, I suppose it's only fair to warn you." She said. "Your past is coming back to haunt you. Unless you can find out the truth behind yourself, we'll all be doomed. Who would have guessed the fate of our world might rest in the hands of an insolent child who selfishly erased her own memories just because of one bad incident. If you remembered, then maybe everyone could be warned in time, but oh well. I guess there's still a chance of you getting your memory back, as slim as it is…"

"Wait, do you know something about my past?" Aamira asked.

"It won't matter soon. One choice is all it takes. So I'll warn you again; don't mess up!"

The fog started to get thicker and the Lucario started to fade from view. Aamira was standing back at the entrance to the Sea Temple, looking up at the moon which was starting to come out of its eclipse. Quill and Manaphy were looking around the entrance for a way in.

"How do you suppose we get this door open?" Quill asked.

'They didn't even realize anything happened?' Aamira thought. 'So it's true that it only happens to people making the Moon's Eye Pact then. But in my dream…'

Aamira wondered about what the pokemon in her nightmare had said.

"It doesn't have to end like this. Make the pact and it will all go away. You'll never have to remember any of this ever happened."

'So I did agree to it after all. Maybe that's what I was really ashamed of, not the fire like I thought. But if that's true, is there really any chance of us being able to put a stop to whatever it is that's going on?'

"Hey come on!" Quill said. "Help us out here."

"I'm coming." Aamira rushed over to help them. In a temple like this, she couldn't imagine what might be waiting for them on the other side of the door. Grovyle, Autumn, and Treecko came over to help too. With an enormous amount of effort from the six of them, they were finally able to get the door open.

Inside there were waterfalls cascading all around them creating springs on either side of the path. Manaphy immediately dove into one of them and started swimming around cheerfully, lighting the dark temple with her perfected Tail Glow.

At first they thought they were alone, but then they realized that they were being watched. From all around them, in tiny houses made of coral, emerged small blue pokemon that looked slightly similar to Manaphy.

"I don't believe it!" Autumn said. "Phione! An entire city of Phione! But I thought they had all died out years ago."

"Welcome, guides-to-our-princess!" One of the Phione said. Unlike the others, this one was wearing a strange turquoise necklace. At least it seemed to be turquoise, but it didn't seem exactly like it either. "Take in this glorious moonlight-bathed sanctuary that you know as the Sea Temple! You are the first land dwellers to set foot here in over a hundred years!"

Manaphy jumped out of the water and walked up to the Phione. Immediately the rest of the Phione standing outside of their houses bowed to Manaphy.

"We've waited so long for a Manaphy to return to us." Another of the Phione said. "Manaphy and Phione are technically two of the same pokemon. We hatch from the same eggs, but it's very rare for a Manaphy to hatch, which is why when it does happen the Manaphy is dubbed as either the Prince or Princess of the Sea."

"We'll show you around!" Another Phione said. "You can stay here as long as you want for bringing Manaphy home safely."

Manaphy looked nervously back at Aamira. It was understandable that this was all a bit overwhelming to her.

"We think that a thief could possibly be on their way here to steal the treasure said to be hidden here." Aamira said. "If you could show us where it is, we could make sure it stays safe for the time being."

The Phione all gazed nervously at each other.

"Our treasure be stolen?"

"The Sea Crown couldn't be taken from us!"

"If that were true, we'd be in a lot of trouble."

"What exactly is the Sea Crown, anyway?" Quill asked. "We've heard of it, but what does it do exactly?"

"It keeps us safe." The first Phione said. "Long ago a terribly strong pokemon came here wanting to force us into making the Phione Dew for him. Since it's a cure all, pokemon would pay quite a bit for it. He saw it as a chance to get rich without needing to do much of anything."

"But then our king Manaphy added his own power to the Sea Crown!" Another said. "Until then it was just a relic symbolizing the royal family, but since then it's kept the Sea Temple hidden. It's only on nights of the lunar eclipse that the barrier created by the Sea Crown weakens and outsiders can see the way in. That's why everyone was hiding when you first showed up."

"So you've been hiding in fear this whole time?" Grovyle asked. "Why not just fight back?"

All of the Phione suddenly looked scared.

"It is not in our nature to fight. We are healers, not hurters. As long as no one comes here to disturb us, we live a quiet and peaceful life, dancing under the stars at night and napping in the sunlight during the day. We don't see why anyone would want to fight if they could be happy just like this. If any of us brought violence to the city, that peace would be disrupted forever by a strong lust for power. It's what happened in every other place all over the world, which is why the Sea Temple broke away from them so long ago."

"A place of absolute peace." Aamira said. "It seems too good to be true. But if what you say is true, then we have to stop Honchkrow from stealing the Sea Crown."

"Oh, please! If anything happened to the Sea Crown, who knows what would happen to us?" The Phione walked up to a door between the two largest waterfalls. "The crown is this way! Please, hurry!"

The six of them followed their Phione guide. Through the door they entered a strange old ruin filled with paintings of ancient pokemon. It was like inside the Sea Temple, time stood still and nothing ever changed.

"How long do Manaphy and Phione live?" Treecko had obviously been thinking the same thing.

"Well because of our cure all, we can potentially live forever." Phione said. "We're the two less spectacular legendary pokemon. We're only really considered to be legendary pokemon because of Manaphy's ability to swap the hearts of pokemon and the Phione's cure-all medicine. Of course there are a few things that make a pokemon a legendary pokemon, but as far as that goes we just barely qualify."

When they came to an old door that hadn't seemed to be opened in years, Phione lifted up his necklace which started to glow. "This necklace is our mark. Phione are sometimes referred to as the people of the water so this being our mark, this is considered the People of the Water's Mark or the Water's Mark for short. They have strange powers in them, so we usually use them as keys to the more isolated areas of the temple."

A blue, crown-shaped mark appeared on the door. It sounded like it was groaning in the effort to open since no one had been there in so long.

They all gazed in amazement at the supposed "throne room" they had just entered. Pillars and spheres floated all around and the floor and ceiling were made entirely with unrestrained water that somehow didn't have any ripples in it. It was as smooth as it would be to stand on a glass floor, but was betrayed by the wetness that could be felt while stepping on it. Above on the ceiling was a large collection of gems that seemed to be contained behind the glass-like water. This, they guessed, was the Sea Crown.

"Pretty isn't it?" Phione asked. "It glows on the full moon, you know? Makes it even prettier! None of us have come back here though since the last king died."

"Why not?" Quill asked.

"After the king is gone no one can enter until the next heir is born and arrives at the Sea Temple." Phione explained. "So we've been waiting."

"For me?" Manaphy asked. She looked up at the sea crown suspended upside down on the ceiling then the throne below them.

"Not really acquainted to this sort of thing, are you?" Phione asked. "It might take some getting used to of course, after all of that time with sailors."

"I take offense to that." Grovyle said. "Not all sailors are as rude as you might think."

"Yes." Phione said. "Well either way, at least you're not pirates. Anyway, as you can see, the Sea Crown is perfectly safe. Of course, it's kind of late now, so you're welcome to stay here if you'd like."

After sealing up the door again, some more Phione showed them to some spare coral huts that they could sleep in.

The beds were made of another sort of spongy coral that strangely felt really nice to lay on. The coral huts were too small for more than one person to stay in them. Grovyle and Autumn were too big to even get inside one, so they had to go back to the ship.

Aamira laid down on her sponge bed and tried to get to sleep. It was about midnight by now, but she was too busy worrying about Manaphy to sleep at all. The way the Phione talked, Aamira worried that they might end up making Manaphy too ambitious.

'Whatever happens, happens, I guess.' She thought, though she wasn't too sure. 'But what about that Lucario from my vision? Was it because of the lunar eclipse that I saw her? Or maybe we've just been at sea for too long and I haven't been eating enough fruit. Or maybe I swallowed some salt water by mistake.' Aamira rubbed her eyes drowsily, knowing that it wasn't just a hallucination but hoping it was. Whoever that Lucario was, Aamira wasn't looking forward to meeting her someday.

'Come to think of it, I haven't seen Lucario here lately either. It seems like he's never around when I have something I want to talk about. I wonder what he would think of this other Lucario.'

Aamira finally fell asleep and was grateful that the nightmares didn't come again that night. Maybe it's because she was thinking of the two Lucario, but she ended up having the strangest dream.

There was another female Lucario, but this one seemed a lot nicer and younger than the one from her vision. The most noticeable thing was a necklace she wore with a pendant made from a piece of amber and white feathers. She was in a stone room, like the inside of a castle, that was furnished with the fanciest pieces of furniture and wall decorations imaginable. The Lucario was sitting in a simple rocking chair. Beside it was a small table with a music box opened on top of it. She was singing to the baby Riolu that she was holding in her arms, probably hatched less than a few minutes ago. Although Aamira couldn't catch the words of the song, she recognized it and the music box as the song that was played on her own music box.


	30. Chapter 30 Fire Underwater

Quill woke up with sunlight shining on his face. He walked outside and noticed for the first time just how much coral was around there. Just as he wondered where it all came from, he stepped on something that moved. He tripped and fell on his back, accidentally kicking the thing underneath him. It was a pink and white pokemon that looked exactly like the coral. It stood up, looking furious, and shot a Bubblebeam at Quill.

As quickly as he could, he got up, yelling a bit, and ran out of the way of the water. The pokemon gave him a disgusted look and hopped into a nearby pool of water and disappeared.

The sound of shrill laughter came from behind him. Quill sighed. "Good morning, Treecko…" He said.

"That was a Corsola." Treecko said. "They don't really like being stepped on, you know. This entire place must be made out of their horns. When they get too big, they fall off and after a while they attach to the ocean floor due to the extreme pressure. In areas where they migrate, they form huge coral reefs. But I kind of wondered yesterday how they all stuck together when the pressure in here wasn't that bad. Then I looked up this morning."

"Huh?" Quill looked up. The first thing he thought was how beautiful it looked with the sunlight shining on the water's surface. The second thought he had was something along the lines of "Oh my goodness, how did we get under water and how are we supposed to get out of here!"

Treecko laughed again. "I sure hope the Phione aren't planning on making us stay here. The really bad part is my parents slept on the boat last night… They'll be worried sick…"

"No, the really bad part is that I can't swim!" Quill started running around frantically. "What do we do! We're trapped under the ocean and I can't swim and we don't have gills and—."

"CALM DOWN!" Treecko shouted so suddenly he caused Quill to trip again in alarm. "In case you haven't noticed, the sea temple is surrounded by an air pocket. We don't need gills. At least not yet. Besides, I can't swim either."

"Maybe Aamira has an idea?" Quill said. "Have you seen her?"

Treecko shook his head. "I think she's still asleep."

"That's not like her. She's usually awake long before this even if Machop and Nuzleaf don't wake her up first." Quill stood back up and walked towards her coral hut.

Inside they found Aamira sitting on the coral bed, staring off into space. Though she might have been dreaming, she was still wide awake.

"Aamira?" Quill said. "Are you alright?" No reply. "Was it that nightmare again?"

Aamira shook her head. Her voice seemed calm enough. "No, it was… Something else… A Lucario. She was holding a baby Riolu… I think it might have been my mom and me as a baby."

Quill tilted his head. "But shouldn't your mom be a human? And if you were born a human how could that Riolu have been you?"

"I don't know!" Aamira said slightly angrily. "I just know it was my mom. She had that music box." Aamira dug around in her bag and pulled out her old music box. "She was singing to this. It was the same song."

"But I have that music box too, remember?" Quill said. "It's not as old, but it's the same in every other way. There could be more than just these two."

"I know it was my mom…" Aamira said.

"Okay, sure, but whether she was or not, we have a bit of a problem."

Aamira followed Treecko and Quill back outside. She looked up at the "sky" for a moment before speaking.

"Yep, that's a bit of a problem." She said.

"Don't worry about it…" A young Phione walked out of his house and rubbed his eyes. "We've had land dwellers visit before and they get home alright. Though now only our chief knows how."

"The chief?" Treecko said.

"Yea." The little Phione said. "You remember? He wears the mark around his neck. The chief is in charge when there's no king or queen."

"Hey, does anyone know where Manaphy is?" Aamira asked.

"Look in the temple!" The little Phione said again before heading back inside. "And don't be so loud!"

Inside the temple they found Manaphy playing in the weird levitating water and the Phione's chief angrily trying to get Manaphy to stop.

"A princess is supposed to act dignified! This is the opposite of dignified!" He shouted.

"Oh, calm down, will you?" Aamira said. "Kids need to have fun. If not they'll live to be old and depressed. You don't want an old depressed queen in the future, do you?"

Manaphy immediately recognized Aamiras voice and swam to the water ceiling. She jumped out of the water on the ceiling and landed on Aamira's head. "Mama! This guy's so grouchy. Can we go home now?"

"This IS your home!" Phione said.

"It's a house." Manaphy said. "A house isn't a home. Technically it's not even a house; it's a temple.

"She acts older than me now…" Treecko said surprised.

"Treecko's funny." Manaphy said. "What he loves it out at sea! But he'd prefer to live in a tree. That's not how it is for me; I just want to stay with family!"

Aamira laughed. "That was so cute, Manaphy!"

Manaphy smiled and hugged Aamira.

"So home is where your heart is?" Quill said. "Such a profound thing to say for a pokemon that can use Heart Swap…"

"He's got a point, you know?" Aamira said half to Manaphy and half to Phione. "I think Manaphy can become a wise queen, don't you? You don't have anything to worry about."

"We have EVERYTHING to worry about! The new ruler of the sea must be crowned soon or the barrier around us will fail. Then THEY'LL find us!" Phione said frantically.

"Who's they?" Quill asked.

"The Relicanth! That's who!" Phione looked around at the four of them, obviously growing more annoyed by the second. "Just come with me and I'll show you."

They left the throne room and went down a different corridor that they had never been through before. Phione used Tail Glow to light the way. The corridor was covered with pictures representing the history of the Sea Temple. They stopped at a gruesome looking part in their history. A huge group of Relicanth had captured the Phione and were standing (or swimming in this case) in a circle around them, apparently about to attack.

"Years and years ago we were attacked by this group of bandits made up entirely of Relicanth. They tried to force us to make our cure-all Phione Dew for them. Since it's so rare, they saw having a bunch of it as owning their own personal diamond mine; a fortune in waiting."

Phione moved on to the next picture. This one of a mini Phione Army being led by a Manaphy against the Relicanth army. "Some of us escaped." He explained. "They formed a rebel army with our king as the leader. He fought on the very front lines to help save everyone who was still trapped. More and more Phione were set free, but the Relicanth kept coming back.

Phione moved down to another picture on the wall. This one of an old looking Manaphy standing below a glowing sea crown with his arms raised. "When our king was becoming old and came down with a terrible disease, instead of letting us make a cure for him, he used the last of his energy and trapped his spirit inside the Sea Crown. One of the things he always said was that he would always protect us. That's why he used the last of his strength to give energy to the Sea Crown to create a barrier. The Sea Temple started to drift on its own. Our legends say it was his spirit that made it move. The light-bending barrier and the moving temple made it impossible for the Relicanth to find us. We thought we were safe."

The next picture showed the sea temple on the surface of the water. Above it was a glowing red moon and in the sea around it were hundreds of Relicanth. "Then a few hundred years later, we had a lunar eclipse. The sea temple just happened to appear right in front of a huge school of Relicanth."

"Wait, there's something I've been wanting to know." Treecko said. "Why does the barrier fail during the lunar eclipse?"

"The sea is governed by the moon. It makes the tides go in and out. On a solar eclipse, the barrier is at its strongest because the sun and the moon are both together to help the sea crown, but on a lunar eclipse, the sun is on one side of the planet and the moon is on the other. Their pull literally pulls the barrier in half, right off of the Sea Temple. Luckily we don't have to worry if there's a lunar eclipse on the other side of the world. Since the barrier is made to deflect light, if it's night on that side of the world, it's day here. We rise to the surface and the barrier is weakened, but we don't have to worry about being seen in the sunlight."

"What if it was storming here when there's a lunar eclipse on the other side of the world?" Aamira asked. "It would be dark enough then."

"… That's a good question." Phione said. "Never mention that again."

"Instead of ignoring the possibility, shouldn't you take extra precautions just in case?" Quill asked.

"When and if the time comes when we need to." Phione said.

"You know, even if the sea temple doesn't become visible, it would still rise to the surface." Aamira said. "Won't the rain bouncing off of the barrier make it kind of obvious where it is? And if the barrier's weakened…"

"Enough of this!" Phione said. "You're missing the point! We were attacked by the Relicanth on the lunar eclipse. Phione Dew heals illness, not injury. A lot of us didn't make it. And after one of our kings died when the Sea Crown went too long without a proper king or queen, it lost its power and we were attacked again. If Manaphy isn't crowned as the Queen of the sea soon, the barrier might disappear again!"

Manaphy looked a little worried. It seemed like the Phione had been attacked by the Relicanth so many times already. "Okay, then, but I still want to have fun."

"You can't blame her for that." Aamira said.

"Even so…" Phione said. "Ugh, either way, let's just head back already."

"My dad knows what it's like to be hunted by pirates…" Treecko whispered to Phione. "But he never let any sort of fear or hatred get in the way of him having a good time sailing out at sea."

Aamira was able to hear him, and realized that he must have no idea about how Grovyle was before finally defeating Walrein. He had been a nervous wreck, especially when the sun went down and he couldn't see at all out of his injured eye.

They each arrived back in the throne room with various emotions and expressions, but upon sight of what was going on, they all stopped in their tracks and looked on with horror.

All around the room were Murkrow, all drenched through their feathers to their skin, who were all holding pieces of the Sea Crown in their claws. Up where the sea crown was mounted, Honchkrow was pulling out the last piece.

"What do you think you're doing!" Phione shouted in a panicked tone. "Do you know what will happen if you take the Sea Crown!"

At that moment, Honchkrow pulled loose the last piece and the entire temple started to shake violently. All the water began to drop from where it was suspended on the walls and on the ceiling. It was chaos. Honchkrow and his Murkrow cronies were flying about dodging all of the water with the Sea Crown's pieces in their talons and Quill started flailing helplessly in the water before he went under. Aamira dove down after him and was able to pull him up just before he couldn't hold his breath any longer.

The water all started draining out and eventually they were all left, badly shaken, on the real floor of the throne room, at least fifty feet below the doorway. A few underwater tunnels were still filled with water, but for the most part, all of the water was gone.

"This is bad!" Phione yelled.

All of the Murkrow started to fly out of the temple, but Honchkrow stayed behind and landed right in front of them. "How nice to see you all again. Though I don't think we've met before?" He gave a slight mock bow to Phione. "For our plan to fully work, of course, I'll need to take Manaphy with me also."

Aamira got up and stood protectively in front of Manaphy. Quill shook the water out of his fur and did the same. Phione got up and hid cowardly behind Manaphy.

"We're not going to let you take her!" Quill shouted. "Just hand back that piece of the Sea Crown and leave!"

Honchkrow put on a fake distressed voice to mock Quill. "Oh, what ever shall I do? If Quill says I should give it back and leave, I guess after all of this planning and coming this far, I should just do as he says and turn around and just go home right now. I'm sure Master will understand, of course." Becoming serious again, he flew back into the air and looked down at them. "Like that's really going to happen. Do you have soot inside of your head, my friend?"

Quill clenched his teeth and his face turned a deep red.

"Don't listen to him, he's just trying to make you mad." Aamira said.

Honchkrow's eyes widened and he looked around at the floor below him. "What's this? Where's the green one?"

Without warning, Treecko dropped down from a ledge up where the water level used to rise to. Apparently he had clung onto the wall to keep from going under the water. He hit Honchkrow in the back with pound, stunning him for just long enough to make him drop his piece of the Sea Crown. The momentum from the attack caused Treecko to fly into the air, giving Honchkrow enough time to turn and hit him with a ferocious Giga Impact. Treecko shouted loudly and was knocked out cold as he was slammed into a wall on the far side of the room. Honchkrow took a moment to regain some of the strength that Giga Impact had cost him. Normally it would have been a good time to attack, but he was too far even for Flamethrower or Aura Sphere to work.

Honchkrow walked over to them calmly and confidently. "Now unless you want that to happen to you, I'd suggest that you do as I say and hand Manaphy over to me."

Manaphy was shaking and clutching one of Aamira's arms tightly.

"We're not going to do that!" Aamira raised her free arm and fired an Aura Sphere at Honchkrow. He managed to dodge by quickly taking flight and circling over head. Aamira looked up desperately. 'He'll always have the advantage as long as he has the skies…'

Honchkrow turned suddenly and fired off a Hyper Beam. Aamira grabbed Manaphy's flipper and ran along with Quill to the left to avoid it. Phione ran to the right and hid behind the throne. While he was regaining his strength, Aamira and Quill took the opportunity to combine their Flamethrower and Aura Sphere and hit Honchkrow in the stomach. He dropped out of the air towards the ground, but at the last second, he pulled up again and hit them with Giga Impact and catching Manaphy in his talons at the same time.

Manaphy screamed and struggled to get out of his Talons, but she was still too young and too weak to stand a chance against Honchkrow. He laughed as he circled overhead. "Too bad you can't attack if Manaphy might get hit also."

Aamira glared up at him with the ultimate dislike. Then she glanced over at Quill. Something strange happened in that moment. It was as if their minds had somehow become connected. Neither of them had to say anything to know what the plan was. Quill ran at Aamira and jumped into the air, and Aamira caught him by his arms and through him high above Honchkrow. Caught by surprise at the sudden turn of events, Honchkrow was caught off guard and was hit by a full powered Flame Wheel on the back. His wings spread had protected Manaphy form getting hit by the flames. He dropped her and Aamira managed to run forward and catch her just in time. She was crying and shaking terribly, but otherwise, unharmed.

Quill grabbed onto Honchkrow's back, trying to drag him down and Honchkrow frantically tried to shake him off. He fired his Hyper Beam wildly around the room, narrowly missing Phione, but hitting Treecko at just the right angle so he was knocked into one of the underwater tunnels. Honchkrow used Giga Impact, and was finally able to both shake Quill off and attack Aamira at the same time.

Honchkrow and Aamira started to fight vigorously over Manaphy while Quill on the other side of the room suddenly realized what had happened to Treecko. He ran to the tunnel and looked down. He was sinking to the bottom and was out cold and unable to hold his breath.

Aamira looked at him in shock and tried to run over to help, but Honchkrow blocked her and attacked to keep her away.

'What can I do?' Honchkrow had gotten quite a bit stronger since the last time they fought, not to mention faster. She could barely keep up, let alone get away to help Treecko. And even if she could, she would be leaving Manaphy unprotected. "Phione!" She shouted. "You have to help Treecko!"

Phione stared at her, eyes bulging in fear, and shook his head frantically.

'That coward!' Quill thought. 'What can I do? I can't swim!' There was no other way. Summoning his courage, he jumped into the water. The sensation shocked him at first, but he just kept kicking his legs as hard as he could, trying to reach Treecko in time. On the way down he noticed how the water seemed to flow around him, as if he were actually built to swim. He was fast and his pointed nose could be used to cut into the water to reduce most of the resistance that he would have had to deal with.

He grabbed Treecko and started to swim upwards, hoping he wasn't too late. He couldn't do it with the added weight though. In a panic he began to use a fire type move without thinking. Surrounded by water, normally nothing should have happened. But something did. When his body started to heat up, he began to rise gradually. Suddenly confident, he figured out how to control his fire so he could ascend quickly without burning Treecko by accident. He kicked his legs frantically as he started to run out of air and just when he was about to give up, his nose poked through the surface of the water. Gasping for breath, he pulled Treecko out of the water and laid him on the ground. His breathing was shallow from the amounts of water he had breathed in. Quill started to pump the water out of his lungs. Treecko's eyes opened suddenly and he coughed up a large amount of water. If he were any other type of pokemon, except a water type, he probably would have drowned, but being a water-loving grass pokemon gave him just enough extra time.

He looked up at Quill with tired eyes. "What just happened…?"

"You got knocked out by Honchkrow and almost drowned." Quill explained.

"And you saved me?" He asked noticing Quill's drenched fur.

Quill nodded. They both turned suddenly when they heard a loud gasp. They turned just in time to see Aamira hitting the ground, barely able to even lift a finger, but still conscious. Conscious or not, though, Honchkrow had obviously defeated her. She was too badly injured to keep fighting.

Honchkrow flew towards Manaphy. Quill tried to get the fire on his back going, since without it he couldn't use any of his fire type attacks, but it wouldn't start. "My fur's too wet! I can't attack!" he suddenly realized.

Honchkrow grabbed Manaphy in his beak by her antenna and picked the Sea Crown piece up in his talons. Manaphy froze with fear, covering her eyes trying not to look at the ground.

"Aamira can't fight! I can't use my attacks…" Quill said helplessly.

Treecko glared angrily at Honchkrow. His body started to glow a bright green color. The glow got so bright that Quill had to shield his eyes. Treecko ran forward and jumped into the air. A green sphere appeared between his hands. He fired it at Honchkrow with a loud yell. Honchkrow screeched in surprise by the amount of power he had been hit with. He was hit into the wall and dropped both Manaphy and the Sea Crown piece. While the piece of the Sea Crown landed on the ground, Manaphy was lucky to fall into one of the nearby water filled tunnels. She resurfaced just as Honchkrow hit the floor. She looked to see who had attacked him, expecting it to be Aamira, but instead it was Treecko that she saw. She smiled and waved at him to show her gratitude. Treecko smiled back and gave a small wave back.

"How is this possible…?" Honchkrow struggled to prop himself up on one wing and glared at Treecko. "How could a kid like you posses an ability like that!"

Treecko looked at his hands. He was still glowing, though he didn't understand why.

Honchkrow laughed. "Either way, it's too late. Even one piece short, we still got enough of the sea crown. That one alone can't repair the barrier. Say hello to my Relicanth friends that are waiting for you outside!" He opened his beak wide, showing the white stone he had been hiding under his tongue. It started to glow and he disappeared in a blinding flash of light.

Aamira staggered to her feet. Quill ran over to help her and Treecko and Manaphy joined them. Phione ran out from behind the throne shouting frantically. "He led the Relicanth here! What are we going to do? The barrier's gone!"

"You're a coward, you know that?" Quill asked. "Hiding while Treecko almost drowned… I didn't even know how to swim until about three minutes ago and I was still able to jump in after him!"

"You left me to drown!" Treecko said angrily.

"It's a bit symbolic, if you ask me, the way you hid behind the throne." Aamira said. "Expecting Manaphy to show up and solve all of your problems, just like that. Wanting to use her like that makes you just as bad as Honchkrow."

"Stop." Manaphy said calmly, standing in front of Phione. "He knows he was wrong. He's just scared like everyone else. But now the Relicanth are going to attack again. We have to focus on that right now!"

Aamira felt so proud of Manaphy for realizing what was important in this situation that all of her anger towards Phione left her. She could tell that the same had happened for Quill and Treecko. Phione looked at Manaphy gratefully.

"I'm sorry." He said. "They're right. But right now we have to do something about the Relicanth outside."

"How? The only way out is the underwater tunnels now." Treecko said.

Phione walked over to a stone box next to the throne and pulled out three Water Marks like his own and handed them to Quill, Treecko, and Aamira. "These marks are actually made from the same material as the Sea Crown. Originally, its how you would have gotten out of here after the temple sank. Wearing them allows you to breathe under water like a water type pokemon."

"Really?" The three of them all said at the same time.

Phione nodded. "But the power is limited. Once you come up out of the water, it looses its power and won't regain it until the full moon. On the new moon, regardless of whether you're under water or not, they'll automatically lose their power, so there's a time limit of about two weeks. Not that big of a deal though; for now you just need to use them to swim out of here."

"How do they work?" Quill asked.

"Just wear them around your necks and they'll act as false gills while you're underwater." Phione explained.

The three of them put the marks around their necks and followed Phione and Manaphy down into the water tunnels. They couldn't believe it. It was just as easy to breathe underwater as it was to breathe above water. Phione was right. Quill couldn't believe what he had been missing out on. Being able to swim, and swim under water, was good enough, but being able to breathe under water was even better!

They swam out of the tunnel and came out in the main part of the temple. All of the Phione were huddled together fearfully as they watched a school of stone colored fish pokemon swimming towards them.

"What now?" Phione asked. "None of us are able to fight them."

"I'm too badly hurt to use any of my attacks." Aamira said. "The effort would probably knock me out right away."

"We could wait for my fur to dry…" Quill said.

Phione shook his head. "They're both rock and water types. You're attacks won't have any effect at all. Manaphy's still too young to know how to control her full powers."

"I'll do it." Treecko looked down at his hands. Though the light had faded, he still had a faint glow around him. He clenched his hands into fists. "I'm the only one here that can now, aren't I!"

Aamira nodded. "We're all counting on you!"

Treecko faced them all with a determined expression and ran to the outcropping of the temple where they had docked the ship the day before. It seemed like it had been so long ago now.

Treecko stood there confidently, not even flinching when he saw the army of Relicanth swiftly approaching. Manaphy watched with a worried look.

The first one jumped out of the water and Treecko knocked it away with a quick bullet seed. Three more came and he did the same thing. Being on the small peninsula, he was surrounded on three sides by them, but he knew if he backed away any further they would take the chance to attack the Phione. Steadily the number of Relicanth increased. Whenever Treecko got too tired he would use Absorb to replenish his strength and knock out an enemy at the same time. Finally he stood as the last pokemon, the injured Relicanth all swimming away as quickly as possible.

The Phione all cheered, but then the lead Phione gave a miserable moan. Far on the horizon came a second wave. Treecko was panting heavily and couldn't hold that many off for too long. They attacked suddenly from far beneath in the water. Though Treecko was able to hold some off, most of them were too strong and fast for him. 'I can't give up!' He thought of Manaphy and of the Phione and what would happen if he failed them. "I WON'T LOSE!" He shouted. The glowing around him brightened. He formed another sphere between his hands and fired it at the Relicanth.

"Was that Aura Sphere?" Aamira asked.

"I don't think so." Quill said. "It's a powerful and really accurate move called Energy Ball. It might be similar to Aura Sphere, but it's a grass type move. But how did Treecko learn it? I can't believe he would be strong enough at this age! Manaphy can use Heart Swap, but it's not the same since she's a legendary pokemon. So how can Treecko…?"

"Could he be an Aura Reader?"

The whole center of the Relicanth's forces were wiped out by the first Energy Ball. The Relicanth on the sides quickly turned tail to swim away. It seemed they had finally figured that if one pokemon was able to take out an army, there was no way they could win. Just as the last of the Relicanth disappeared beneath the waves, Treecko passed out.

Treecko woke up laying beside the ocean with Aamira, Quill, all of the Phione, and, of course, Manaphy, all clustered around him.

"That was amazing!" One of the younger Phione said.

"I really was!" Quill said.

"I don't think I've ever met anyone who could fight off a whole army." Aamira said.

Treecko sat up and looked around at all of them. The glow had disappeared when he passed out, but he was still shaken by what he was capable of.

"Oh, look!" Manaphy shouted pointing towards the horizon. A ship had come into view. They could faintly see that it was Grovyle's.

"They're coming back for us!" Quill said happily.

"Of course they are!" Treecko said. "He stood up and started to walk towards the shore, but stopped suddenly."

"What's wrong?" Aamira asked.

Treecko stared at the ship for a while, watching it's movements through the water. Then he turned to Quill and Aamira.

"Can I ask you two to do something for me?"

Quill and Aamira glanced at each other. "What is it?" Aamira asked.

He turned back and looked at the ship. "Tell my parents I finally found where I'm supposed to be."

"What!" Quill said. "You don't mean…?"

Treecko nodded. "I want to stay with Manaphy a little while longer. And besides that, the Relicanth might just come back as soon as we leave. I'll fight for the Phione and for Manaphy and protect them all." Aamira could tell he was straining to hold back tears. "But… Tell them… I'm really going to miss them!"

"You should tell them yourself." Quill said.

Treecko shook his head. "If I talk to them, I'll never be able to keep myself from leaving…" he turned and walked past them towards the temple's entrance. Then he stopped and turned back again, tears covering his face. "I'm going to miss you guys too!"

Aamira and Quill both nodded towards him, afraid that if they tried to talk they would cry too.

Manaphy looked up at Aamira and took her hand. "I have to stay too, you know."

This was too much for Aamira. She knelt down and hugged Manaphy and started crying. "I know… I never thought I would have to leave you here so soon though. But at least now you won't be alone… Treecko will be here with you."

Manaphy giggled. "You shouldn't cry, mama." She smiled up at Aamira. "I'm finally home, right? Please, can't you smile? I don't want to remember you crying when you leave. That would be a terrible thing for me to remember."

Aamira smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Yes, I promise. You won't have to remember me like this."

Aamira stood, smiling, and watched as Manaphy ran off to join Treecko.

The ship docked a few minutes later and Grovyle threw down a rope ladder towards them. Quill and Aamira climbed on board. Autumn was there and looked around for Treecko.

"Where is he?" She asked.

Aamira spoke first. "He finally found where he was meant to be."

"But he's really going to miss both of you." Quill finished.

Grovyle and Autumn stared at them for a moment, completely shocked at what they had said, then turned to each other and laughed.

"A wayfaring adventurer like myself, and just as sensitive and loving as you." Grovyle said.

"I knew this day was coming." Autumn said. "I hoped it wouldn't be so soon. He'll be alright though; he is our son, after all."

That night, while Autumn bandaged up Aamira's injuries, the two of them told the entire crew what had happened after the temple sank. They looked on with disbelief.

"It's hard to believe my little Treecko did all of that…" Autumn said.

"And Quill finally learned how to swim!" Aamira smirked.

Quill blushed. "I hate it when you tease me like this."

Aamira yelped as Autumn pulled on one of the bandages by accident. "Oh, I'm sorry." She said. "I've never had to bandage A Riolu's head before. The aura sensors on your head keep getting in the way."

"Oh, I think I still have some Oran berries!" Quill started digging through his bag.

"Figures, now you remember them…" Aamira said.

"I thought I did, but… maybe not… Wait, what's this?" Quill pulled out a leaf and stared at it. "Where did this come from? We've been at sea for so long now and I never noticed it.

"That was the leaf Treecko was carrying. It was hidden in his scarf and when out minds got switched he hid it in your bag. I forgot about it until now. But why did he even have that with him? It's just a regular Ginkgo leaf."

Autumn sighed as she finished with the bandages. "He really was homesick after all. I never realized how much."

"What do you mean?" Quill asked.

"Treecko are always hatched near the top of a Ginkgo tree. When Treecko was finally old enough to leave the tree, we wanted to go sailing again. We thought he would love it, but he refused to come down from the tree or even talk to us. I remember Noctowl flew up into the tree and gave him that scarf. He came down immediately afterwards. I had no idea he had hidden a leaf from that tree inside of the scarf for so long…"

"It looks like this is really it." Grovyle said from across the room. "He wouldn't have forgotten it if he was planning on coming back any time soon. He really has figured out what he wants to do with his life, though it doesn't make leaving him behind any easier."

They watched in silence out of a window in the side of the ship as the Sea Temple vanished from view. Just before it dipped below the horizon, Aamira thought she saw the light from a Tail Glow.


	31. Chapter 31 Quill the Guardian

Aamira woke up and stretched. It was so nice waking up in a motionless hammock instead of one constantly being rocked by the sea. It had taken a while for the two of them to get their land legs back.

"At least I didn't get sea sick that time." Quill said for the umpteenth time. He didn't mind sailing anymore, but it still wasn't one of his favorite past times.

They had gotten to Ignis by the night following their departure from the Sea Temple. Today they were supposed to meet with Charmeleon so he could give them the tour. They hadn't been able to enjoy their last visit, given the circumstances, and didn't really know much about the city.

Outside, Charmeleon waved to them and they rushed over.

"Hey, Charmeleon." Aamira said. "It sure does feel like it's been a long time, doesn't it?"

"Somehow." He said. "You two look like you've gotten a bit stronger from your adventures at sea."

"Not strong enough though…" Quill was remembering their humiliating defeat against Honchkrow, though he was only unable to attack because he had gotten wet.

"Strong enough for the tournament, I hope." Charmeleon said. "But first comes the spring festival!"

Quill's mouth started drooling. "And there will be Lava Rock Candy, won't there…?"

"Of course!" Charmeleon said. "That's the festival specialty!"

"But look at this place!" Aamira gestured at nowhere in particular. "No grass, no flowers, no buds on the trees… Unless there's some sort of trick, it doesn't look anything like spring here."

Charmeleon looked around sadly. "I know. The last spring in Ignis happened when I was really young. I can barely remember it now. The trees were covered with flowers and grass started to grow. It was amazing, but that was the last anyone here saw of spring. No one knows why though. Anyway, we should get going. My dad wants to see you two before lunch."

Charmeleon led them through the city naming off various buildings. They caught a glimpse of Ninetales from a rival team by the archives. Apparently she spent all of her time there trying to decipher her grandma's faded diary.

A few of the shops were the same as in other countries. There were a pair of Keckleon running the item shop, and a Kangaskhan running the warehouse. The sorts of pokemon that ran the other shops varied from place to place. They noticed that while there were quite a few different pokemon, there were a lot of Charmander around.

"Why are there so many Charmander?" Quill asked.

"They're from other islands in Ignis. Most of them are my cousins. Since my aunts and uncles run other cities in Ignis, they all come to Ember for the festival."

"It must be nice having so many family members." Aamira wondered, as she had many times since having that dream in the Sea Temple, what her real family was like.

Charmeleon laughed. "Yea, sure. Family separated by ocean waves. I hardly know any of them."

Charmeleon led them up the side of Ember's volcano. Though there was a distinct path, it was still a steep climb. They noticed a Roman-like temple appear on a high cliff.

"Is that where your dad lives?" Quill asked.

Charmeleon nodded. "But I must ask you, don't judge him based on what you see. You already know what he's supposed to be like."

"What do you mean? What's wrong with him?" Aamira asked.

Charmeleon sighed and stopped in front of the door. Though they had climbed up some ways, they were still less than a fourth of the way up the volcano. "Lately he hasn't quite been himself. I'm not sure why though. When I said he wanted to see you, it's more along the lines of I want you to see him and see if you can figure something out."

Charmeleon opened the door and stepped inside. "Dad! Are you awake yet? It's almost noon!"

Near the back of the room, resting on a large slab of stone, was Charizard. His wings were stretched over his sides and his flamed tail was curled around him. Aamira and Quill had been just starting out when they first met him, but after all of that time they came to realize that Charizard was giant compared to most others. His jaw was hanging open showing his huge teeth. They would have looked threatening if his eyes hadn't been half shut at the time too.

He looked lazily towards Charmeleon and lifted his head off of the stone. "What do you want now? Close the door, it's too bright outside!"

Charmeleon sighed and shook his head. "The proud country of Ignis with a leader suddenly acting like this… I can't figure out why. Chansey said he's not sick. He's just not been wanting to do anything lately and he's been acting really depressed."

Charizard turned over so he wouldn't have to look towards them.

"Hey, can't you tell us what's wrong?" Quill asked. "This isn't like you. You normally act really cheerful, in spite of how fierce and strong you look. So why are you acting like this now?"

"What's the point?" Charizard said. "No matter how hard someone trains, there will always be pokemon too strong for one pokemon to defeat. Why bother trying if my endeavors will always end in failure anyway?"

"This seems familiar." Quill said. Aamira nodded, but she was reluctant to agree. She had acted the same way after one of her battles with Honchkrow. She had been fighting alongside Raichu but right when the battle was turning in their favor, Raichu had shocked her along with Honchkrow, then agreed to join Honchkrow. They kidnapped Raikou and abandoned her there. After that she had lost the will to do much of anything.

"Who was it that you lost a battle to?" Aamira asked. "Was it Honchkrow?" Charizard shook his head. "It couldn't have been Raichu, could it?"

Charizard roared and stood up, and bent his neck down to Aamira's height. "You think I would lose to a Tempestan! Never! But the power of legendary pokemon far exceeds any normal pokemon! The only way to ever hope to beat one is to become one, which is impossible!"

"Now he's mad." Charmeleon said. "Never ask if an Ignian lost to someone form Tempestas. It's considered a huge insult, even if it's true." He turned back to his dad. "Wait, did you just say you battled a legendary pokemon?"

Charizard growled softly in his throat and turned away from them again.

"That's it, isn't it?" Aamira asked. "What pokemon was it?"

"Its name was Azelf." Charizard said.

"Well that explains it then!" Quill said. "If you hurt Azelf, then you lose your willpower. No wonder you're acting like this."

Charizard scoffed and a plume of smoke rose out of his nostrils. "What does it matter who I battled? I still lost."

"Why were you fighting Azelf to begin with?" Aamira asked.

"It's a bit ironic actually. He showed up here all depressed one day acting like he wanted to throw himself into the lava. I tried to talk to him, to tell him that his life hadn't already ended, but he wouldn't listen to reason. He said that no matter how strong you are, someone will always be stronger and there's no way around it. He said as proof he would battle me. I lost miserably and I finally understood what he meant. But apparently winning against me was enough to convince him otherwise. It's as if we've completely swapped positions."

"Azelf had his chain links stolen." Quill said. "No wonder he was acting like that. Uxie couldn't even remember his own name for a while when his were stolen."

"Mesprit's are the only ones left." Aamira said. "She said she hid them somewhere. Then she gave Honchkrow that riddle. 'They are hidden in a place across time and space, guarded by an unaware guardian.' I have no idea what it could mean."

"Do you think there's any way to restore my dad's confidence?" Charmeleon asked.

"I'm not sure." Aamira said. "I lost my will a while back, but I was able to get it back. But I didn't lose it fighting against Azelf like Charizard did. I remember Uxie used to have to keep his eyes closed just so he wouldn't erase people's memories by accident. I don't think any of them have any control over the curses they put on people. Even if we found Azelf I'm not sure if he would be able to do anything about this."

Charmeleon seemed worried. It was hard to believe this was the same Charmeleon who had tried to use a mind control trick on Aamira and had tried to take them both hostage over a year ago. "There's nothing that can be done about it." He finally said. "Who knows, he might just get back to normal on his own."

Aamira pulled at the bandage around her head. "I was supposed to get these changed after lunch, but they got a bit dirty on the way up here."

"That's to be expected." Charmeleon said. "The air is always filled with a little soot, even if you can't see it very well. I'll take you two back so you can have lunch. I'll just have to worry about my dad later."

Quill and Aamira talked while a Chansey looked over her head wound. She had been lucky not to get a concussion.

"How did he get you anyway?" Quill asked. "With payback you should have been able to defeat him."

"I guess I got careless." Aamira said. "Actually he probably guessed I was about to use that attack. When I tried to step back he caught my right leg in his talons and hit me with a Hyper Beam to the stomach. That's where the scratches and broken ribs came from. I think the head injury came from when he hit us with Giga Impact. It was all happening so fast I couldn't tell what was happening half of the time."

"Here's something I don't get!" Quill said. "He knew how to get into the throne room and he knew about the Relicanth. How is that?"

"Hey, what's this?" Chansey asked. She lifted the aura sensor on the left side of Aamira's head. "Looks like a tiny robot of some sort."

"What?" Quill walked over to Aamira's left side. There was a little flashing red light that had been attached to Aamira's head under her aura sensor where no one would notice it. "How did that get there?"

"Wait, you remember back in Atra? Mismagius had Honchkrow build something that would let her see and hear what I saw and heard. It must have been connected to some nerves in my head."

"Wait, so maybe he had added a second one without even Mismagius knowing. So could that have been there ever since Atra!" Quill asked.

"If so, that means Honchkrow's been spying on us this whole time! I don't believe this! I thought the things he's done before were bad enough, but bugging me like this is just going too far! The next battle won't end the same way. You hear that, bird brain! I hope you're listening!"

"It's embedded kind of deep into your skin." Chansey said. "I'm not sure how hard it will be getting it out or even how far in it goes. It's a surprise the last person who bandaged you didn't notice it."

"She was having trouble because my aura sensors kept getting in the way." Aamira said. "It makes sense she didn't notice it."

"I feel bad now though." Quill said. "It's because of us that Honchkrow found out about the Relicanth."

"Because of us?" Aamira said. "No, it's because of Honchkrow and me not noticing it."

"Whatever kind of bug this little machine is, it's genius." Chansey said. "Not only is it in a place where no one would notice it, but it's also in a pressure point where you wouldn't be able to feel it."

"Can you try to get it out?" Aamira asked.

Chansey looked at the bug a bit longer. "Like I said before, I'm not sure how deep into your skull it actually goes. If it's connected to nerves inside of your brain, I'd say the only one who'd be able to take it out is Honchkrow himself. I don't know where he learned to do this, but it's beyond anything I've ever seen."

"What about Eevee?" Quill asked. "He's visiting too, isn't he? He's setting up evolution machines in every capital city, so he came here for an excuse to see the festival."

Chansey nodded. "Maybe he could do something about this. I can't guarantee that you won't need surgery though. Your wounds aren't that serious to need to be bandaged again right away. I'd go see Eevee if I were you. Oh, but I still need to look at your arm."

"Oh, no! It's okay!" Aamira said frantically. "I'm sure Eevee can take a look at that."

Her and Quill both rushed to get away before Chansey could protest.

"That was close." Quill said. "Not many people know about those scars. They just raise too many questions. If other people knew about it they might start to think badly about us for who knows why."

"I almost forget what it looks like. I haven't changed that bandage recently. I'm surprised Chansey didn't realize. Ugh, we shouldn't be talking about this! Honchkrow can probably hear every word we're saying."

They found Eevee in a lab that was probably put together just for his arrival. When they told him about Honchkrow's bug, he took a look at it.

"It's definitely his technology. There's no other like it. Luckily when I was forced to work with him, I did learn a few of his secrets. I think I could get it out without it hurting you in anyway." He said.

Aamira sighed. "That's good." She yelped and jumped back when she saw a needle that Eevee had pulled out of a drawer.

"What?" He said. "Would you rather be awake through it all or asleep and unable to feel a thing?"

"Don't be such a baby." Quill said. "I don't like shots either, but he's right, you know?"

Aamira sighed. "Fine, but I don't like this."

"You would be crazy if you did." Eevee put the needle in Aamira's arm and she resisted the urge to pull away. After a few minutes she started feeling drowsy and fell asleep.

When she woke up it was nearly night. Her head was throbbing slightly, but it didn't hurt too badly.

"It's about time you woke up." Eevee sat down a book he was reading. "You won't have to worry about that bug anymore. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be though." He walked over to a table and picked up the bug. On the end was a little red light, which was all that had been visible on the surface, but attached to it were four long wires that looked almost like legs. These had been holding it inside of her skull. "Luckily with x-rays I could see clearly where they were connected so I didn't have to cut a hole in your head. I know you wouldn't have liked that. With a bit of Calcium the damage this did to your skull should repair itself quickly."

"Yea, I remember when I got hit with that arrow through my hand." She looked at the bone on her hand. There was still a white circle where the arrow had pierced it and it had been grown back by taking a lot of Calcium. Normally something like that shouldn't have happened, but it wasn't an ordinary arrow. "Where's Quill at?"

"He left a while ago to get some supplies from the Keckleon Shop. He figured that even if I told you to rest a while, you would want to head off to find Moltres."

"Oh, I almost forgot about that." Aamira admitted. "But why the sudden urgency?"

Eevee glanced nervously towards the window. "While you were asleep, there was a really bad earthquake. The lava in the volcano started to rise. Everyone thinks Moltres has something to do with it. I won't stop the two of you from going, but I'm not sure if there will be any after effects to pulling this bug out of your head. Stay close to Quill at all times and try to stay out of battles as much as possible. You were really too badly injured to be doing something like this to begin with, but your injuries have healed a little over the past few days."

"Few days! How long was I out?" Aamira asked.

"About four days. Tomorrow's the start of the spring festival already."

Aamira sighed. She had wanted to use those extra days to explore the city a bit, but no luck. At least she felt well enough to fight again.

Quill showed up a few minutes later. They divided the items from the shop evenly between them and headed off to the volcano.

"Charmeleon told me where the entrance was." Quill said. "We're supposed to meet him there. He knows the temple perfectly up to the point where Moltres's bells are. After that we'll have to keep going carefully to reach the deepest part of the temple. Though I'm not sure if we should play the bells at the top of the volcano if it would cause an eruption, but odds are, that's where Moltres is."

"Makes sense." Aamira said. "What are the odds this would happen while I was out cold?"

"Think Honchkrow's behind it?" Quill asked.

Aamira nodded. "He must have known I would be out for a while and made his move to find Moltres for who knows what reason. At least since Articuno and Zapdos's temples were so similar we can assume this one would be too."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Quill asked.

Aamira nodded. "Yea, I feel great! A lot better than before at least."

The weather in Ignis was pleasant. It was nice and warm, but not unbearably warm. Even though the sun had started to set, it was still the perfect temperature for a fire type.

While they walked towards the temple, Aamira realized that she had started humming again. Neither of them commented on it since they were used to it by now. Charmeleon was waiting in front of the temple's entrance, kicking a small rock around to pass the time.

"It's about time!" Charmeleon said. "I've been waiting here all day."

"Sorry." Quill said. "This morning Eevee said Aamira was starting to stir a bit in her sleep, but we didn't know exactly when she would wake up."

"Well, no point in waiting around here." Charmeleon stood up straighter and led the way into the dungeon. The dungeon leading to Moltres's temple was called Lava Lake. It really did look like a huge lake of lava, but that might have just been because they were inside a volcano.

Aamira yawned loudly.

"Four days of sleep not enough?" Charmeleon asked. "Actually I get it. You just came back from that lengthy mission out at sea. The lava in this town provides us with many great hot springs and saunas and there are also places where you can go to take a sand bath. There's a Cacnea who comes from a desert across the sea who even specializes in acupuncture. I've heard once that it could be used to stimulate the flow of aura."

Aamira yawned again. "That sounds great. Though I don't really know why I'm suddenly so tired. I was fine a minute ago."

"I hope pulling that bug out of your head didn't do anything bad." Quill looked worried, but Aamira tried to act as cheerful as possible to keep him from worrying too much, though it did concern her a bit too.

Out of the center of the lake of lava rose a tall mountain inside the volcano. At the top was another entrance that led to the bell chamber. It was just like the other temples.

Aamira had a bit of trouble since the hot rocks burned both her front and back paws on the climb up the mountain. Quill and Charmeleon were unaffected because they were fire types, but by the time they got to the entrance of the bell chamber, they had to stop to let Aamira eat some Rawst berries and smear some of the berry juice on her burns. It worked as well as always. Just as they were about to go inside though, Quill stopped them.

"What is it?" Charmeleon asked.

"I hear voices inside." Quill moved a little closer to the doorway and strained his ears. "I can't tell what they're saying, but I recognize the voices. It's Honchkrow's and, you're not going to believe this, Hunter's!"

"Hunter's here?" Aamira asked. "He must have wanted to challenge Moltres. But he's talking with Honchkrow?"

Quill nodded. "They don't seem to be arguing or anything either. It sounds like they might even be working together."

"We need to sneak inside." Charmeleon said. "Near the entrance part of the roof collapsed during an earthquake a few years back. The rubble's still there. We can hide there and listen in on them."

Charmeleon led the way inside. It was a lot warmer inside of the bell chamber. There were pools of lava all around the sides of the room. Near the center of the room was a pedestal with Moltres's Fiery Gem resting on top, glowing with the light of an inner flame. Around the room were the usual statues of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres along with Lugia's. But near the back, the bells had been completely destroyed. Quill had been right. Hunter and Honchkrow were there talking, but aside from them were also Moltres and its guardian, Regirock.

"I never would have expected you could not only steal the Fiery-Gem so easily, but also revive Moltres and defeat it so easily." Honchkrow was saying. "You really do take after your teachers don't you."

Aamira's eyes widened in surprise and Quill and Charmeleon stared at her. She hastily opened her bag and opened an inner pocket where she had kept the Fiery-Gem. Inside it was a smoothed round stone that was about the same size and weight as the gem. She barely kept from groaning when she realized that this must have been the whole reason Hunter had wanted to fight her before and she hadn't even noticed it until now.

Hunter said nothing and turned to Moltres. "I don't mind fighting this pokemon for you, but why? It doesn't have anything to do with your plan, does it?"

"Master has been foiled many times by that annoying guardian. If one of his subordinates gets hurt, he's sure to come running to this world to help. When he does, you can do whatever you want. One of the two pokemon who used to rule over this world. He's sure to be a challenge."

"Challenge or not," Hunter slid his sword back into his sheath. "I'll defeat him with no problem. That will bring me closer to my own goals."

Honchkrow stared at him for a moment. "I don't know what you're up to, but whatever it is doesn't sound like anything good."

"I just want power. The more legendary pokemon I defeat only by using martial arts or sword techniques, the more powerful I will have obviously become."

Honchkrow laughed. "When you become the strongest pokemon ever, then what? You must be aiming towards something more than that."

"If I am, then it's my own business and not yours!" Hunter snapped at Honchkrow.

'Wait, I thought that power was all Hunter wanted.' Aamira thought. 'I thought he had gone mad after losing the ability to fully control his aura and he only wanted power because of that, but there's something else that he's after? What is it? It can't be anything good if he's helping Honchkrow.'

"What should we do?" Charmeleon asked in a whisper.

"We can't just stand around here and let them get away with hurting Moltres." Quill said. "We have to rescue Moltres and Regirock."

"So what, do we just run out an attack? Which should we attack first?"

"If you ask me, Hunter's the bigger threat." Charmeleon said. "I think you should run out first and attack him with Aura Sphere. It's so fast that if he still hasn't sensed us by now, there's no way he'll be able to dodge. Being part steel type would give us the advantage."

Aamira nodded. She got as close to the edge of their hiding place as possible before revealing herself. Then she ran out from behind the rock and prepared to charge up an Aura Sphere. But something wasn't right. She couldn't feel her aura. Unable to form an Aura Sphere, she stood there, staring at Hunter and Honchkrow, feeling slightly embarrassed and not knowing what to do.

"What are you doing?" Charmeleon came out of their hiding spot followed by Quill.

Hunter stared at Aamira then turned to Honchkrow. "Well isn't this strange. She was able to get this close, and I can't sense her aura at all."

"Is that so?" Honchkrow asked. "Since they came to this country before already, Entei has already been revived. Their roles are done in this world. I say we take advantage of this moment and take Quill and Aamira back with us."

"Why not?" Hunter threw his sword aside, obviously thinking that he wouldn't need it to battle Aamira. He had no idea how right he was though. Hunter ran at Aamira with blinding speed. She could barely even track his movements. She was able to dodge a punch just in time and rolled around behind him. She attacked his back with Force Palm… but nothing happened.

Hunter staggered a bit, obviously as confused as she was. "What are you doing?"

Aamira was staring at her paw in shock. She tried to use Drain Punch on the air or Payback, but those attacks didn't work either. Even her regular attacks were weaker than normal.

'I can't use my attacks!' She thought frantically. 'I did as Eevee said and avoided battles on the way here, but now this… Did something go wrong when he pulled that bug out of my head?'

Hunter was giving her a weird look. It took Aamira a minute to realize he was trying to decide what to do. In her condition, Aamira would be easy to defeat, but maybe that's the reason he was hesitating. He didn't like to fight at all unless it was against a worthy opponent.

"Does it matter whether she can use her attacks or not?" Honchkrow asked. "You don't have to even fight her now, just pick her up and carry her. It's not like she can fight like this."

"I thought you were against kidnapping without giving people a chance to fight back." Aamira said hastily, backing away from Hunter and Honchkrow.

"Technically you did have a chance." Honchkrow said. "But more than that, I'd hate to tell my master I've failed again. By now Raichu has probably finished in his own mission. So now the two of you are coming with us."

"What about him?" Hunter made an uncaring gesture towards Charmeleon.

"He might be useful if we can't get Charizard's cooperation." Honchkrow said. "Let's just take them all with us. By the time we get back Lugia should have arrived. Or one of us can try taking all three of them back while the other waits here with Moltres."

"I'm waiting here." Hunter said.

Honchkrow smirked. "I thought so." He flew into the air and used Giga Impact on Aamira.

Until now Charmeleon had been unsure of what to do. Now they rushed over to help Aamira. But when they did Hunter ran in front of them and attacked. It was obvious that he wasn't fighting seriously, but neither Quill nor Charmeleon or their combined powers could even hold him off for long.

"That's enough! Save your energy for Lugia." Honchkrow shouted. Hunter ceased his attacks. Behind him, Honchkrow had tied Aamira's arms behind her back. "Now you two, you can either come quietly, or Aamira can take the attacks you would have gotten." He dug his talons into Aamira's right arm. Though she tried not to react, the sharp pain caused her to tense up and a muscle in her arm twitched involuntarily.

"Aamira!" Quill shouted. "Honchkrow, let her go!"

"Do we have a deal or not?" he dug his talons deeper into her arm and Aamira clamped her eyes shut. She couldn't stand suddenly being so weak. It was as if her level had suddenly been drastically reduced. This was the sort of thing that she was supposed to be able to handle with no problem.

"Don't hurt her." Charmeleon said. "We'll go with you, just don't hurt her anymore." Quill didn't object.

"No, don't!" Aamira said. "You guys have to fight them or they'll get Lugia. Just forget about me for a second and deal with these two."

"You losing and arm or a leg won't hurt us at all, you know?" Honchkrow said. "You should just let your friends surrender quietly."

"We can't risk it…" Quill said under his breath. Charmeleon nodded gravely.

"I thought you would see things my way. Now walk over here slowly."

The two of them gritted their teeth and started to walk towards Honchkrow. He smirked triumphantly.

'No, don't…!' Aamira thought furiously, enraged by her own weakness.

"I'm not sure about this." Hunter's words shocked everyone. "I'm just not used to such underhanded trickery. It's not as if it were really a fair fight without her being able to use her attacks."

"Maybe you've been overestimated." Honchkrow said to Hunter. "What do you care as long as you get to battle Lugia?"

Hunter looked away. "I suppose."

At that moment, another Earthquake shook the room. A blast of fire shot out from the lava pool closest to Honchkrow. It couldn't have been something natural; it was too controlled for that. The fire hit Honchkrow right in the back, completely missing Aamira aside from the ropes, which burned to ashes in seconds, freeing her almost instantly.

The fire continued to charge around the room and hit hunter into a wall. He narrowly avoided a pool of lava by jumping off of the wall, but he doubled over in pain as soon as he hit the floor.

The fire stood in front of Charmeleon and Quill, Aamira ran over to join them, clutching her injured arm. The fire died down and left standing there was a magnificent pokemon. It had long fur and a bony frame around its head that looked like a war helmet along with the ones around its legs that looked like shackles. On its back were what resembled mountains with wispy fur that resembled smoke like that from a volcano. It was the legendary pokemon, Entei.

Aside from Entei, there was another pokemon riding on its back; an elderly Lucario who they recognized immediately as Ruko.

"I'd say that's enough talk, don't you?" Ruko asked Entei in a calm cheerful voice.

"Yes." Entei replied with a booming voice. "The lava flow has decreased drastically since last I was here. Unless it increases again, Moltres cannot recover."

"What do you say, can you three handle that while I take care of Moltres and Regirock?" Ruko asked.

"Maybe they can." Aamira said. "But I'm hurt and my attacks aren't working."

Ruko jumped off of Entei's back and walked towards Aamira. He placed a hand on her head. Aamira shivered as he felt his aura flowing inside of her skull. It was such a weird sensation.

"Something has blocked your energy. All pokemon, not just Riolu or Lucario, need it to use any of their true strength. Otherwise a pokemon is just as weak as a human." He released more of his aura. Aamira flinched. It hurt her head terribly. "Feel better now?"

Aamira put a paw to the side of her head, about to argue that no one could think this felt better, but then the pain from both her head and arm faded away and she felt her strength returning. Speechless, she nodded, not knowing what she should say to him.

"So Aamira's going to be okay?" Quill asked.

Ruko nodded. "We'll talk later. For now you three go on ahead."

Entei roared. The entire mountain shook and behind them the passage that normally would have been opened by the bells if they hadn't been destroyed revealed a new passageway farther into the volcano.

"Your abilities will be needed." Ruko said to Charmeleon.

"Who, me?" Charmeleon pointed to himself, unable to believe that he was actually needed for something like this.

"Of course." Ruko said. "You already have fire aura and your ancestors have protected this land for a long time. Aamira has lost her ability to control different elements with her aura, since Lucario is no longer around and her scarf has disappeared. You're the only one who can open the door to the top of the volcano."

Charmeleon nodded, obviously a bit unsure about this. He turned to Aamira and Quill. "Let's get going."

The three of them filed into the passage leading them deeper into the volcano. The deeper they went, the more the temperature increased. Aamira was having more trouble than Charmeleon or Quill since she didn't have the resistance to heat that the two of them had.

Aamira's attacks were a bit weak at first, but the longer they went, the stronger they gradually got. It was a good thing too, since the pokemon became stronger and stronger the farther down they went. The dungeon gradually started to change. Instead of leading downwards, it turned in the opposite direction after a while, leading them up through the wall of the volcano. Though there was less lava, it was a lot darker, even with Quill and Charmeleon's flames. The rocks were acting as insulators, keeping the rising heat from escaping and making it hotter than ever.

Finally they found the stone slab that always marked the end of the temples. An ancient painting of Moltres covered the entire stone slab. There was a small indent where Moltres's treasure was supposed to go to act as a key, opening the door. Since it had to stay on the pedestal or the exit door would close, Aamira had to substitute it in Zapdos and Articuno's temples with her Aura Sphere.

"So how do I do this?" Charmeleon asked. "Do I just use flamethrower on this indent, or is there some trick to it?"

"I'm not sure…" Aamira was so dehydrated at this point that she could barely even speak. "I always just used Aura Sphere, but there might be some sort of trick to it…"

"Hmm…" Charmeleon tilted his head as if there were something else that he just couldn't see from his current angle. "I suppose I might as well try it."

He stepped back from the stone and used Flame Thrower. The picture glowed faintly then returned to normal.

"It didn't work…" Quill said.

Aamira looked closely at the writing on the tablet. "Oh, I forgot!"

"What is it?" Charmeleon asked.

"We need the power of fire and a silver and gold aura." Aamira said. "Normally I would have been able to absorb the fire power from the Fiery-Gem, but since my aura's mostly gold and there's no one with a silver aura around, it's impossible."

"What if we combine our attacks?" Charmeleon asked.

"That might work." Aamira used Aura Sphere and Charmeleon used Flamethrower. Their attacks combined just as they hit the stone tablet. The picture started glowing, this time a little brighter than before, but then the light faded again.

"Since you don't have a silver aura—" Charmeleon started to say.

"It's not that I don't have a silver aura." Aamira said. "I have silver and gold, it's just that the gold is a lot stronger. They need to be balanced if I want to change my aura type using a legendary pokemon's treasure, but I can still technically use it. That's not the problem then."

"So is it mine that's the problem?" Charmeleon asked.

"What if all three of us tried combining our attacks?" Quill asked.

"It's worth a shot…" Aamira used Aura Sphere again and Charmeleon and Quill both used Flamethrower. Something strange happened to Quill's Flamethrower. As soon as it made contact with the Aura Sphere, it turned a bright blue.

The Aura Sphere and flame throwers spun around rapidly inside of the hollow of the tablet. Quill watched nervously realizing that he had just done something completely out of the ordinary. He didn't understand how he had done it, but the painting started to glow with a blinding light. The floor started shaking and the three of them fell to the ground.

"What now?" Charmeleon asked.

Quill pulled out an Escape Orb. "Now we go back to the entrance."

The three of them started to glow and were warped in front of the Moltres statue, which had risen up to reveal a hidden staircase.

"Back already?"

The three of them turned around. Ruko was still there. He had apparently been treating Regirock's wounds. He was now asleep up against the side of a pillar. More lava had poured into the chamber. Moltres was laying in the lava and Entei was trying to help her recover the best he could.

"What happened to Honchkrow and Hunter?" Quill asked.

"We had no choice but to let them escape." Ruko said. "We were too concerned with healing these two to do much about it. Hunter really did a number on both of them. Either way, you three should head to the summit now. The lava is still rising."

"What about you?" Aamira asked.

"I'll be fine." Ruko said. "I have to stay here for now in case Regirock's condition gets any worse. We'll catch up as soon as we can, just go on ahead."

"I want to stay and help." Charmeleon said. "I've done as much as I can with those two; they can handle things from here."

Ruko nodded. "Fine, then help Entei. Moltres is worse off than we had thought."

They nodded and headed up the stairs. Like in Articuno's temple, there was a bridge leading from the temple to the back of the volcano. They hurried across it and emerged on the outside of the volcano. There were a set of stairs leading to the top. They ran to the top as quickly as they could. To their relief, the bells there were still in tact. The edge of the volcano curved up around the vent so it was impossible to get there any other way aside from flying or climbing up through the inside of the temple.

"Only an Aura Reader can play the song on these bells, remember?" Quill asked.

Aamira stepped up to the bells and tried to remember the song she had started humming on the way to the volcano. Each of them was attached to long ropes so that when they were pulled the bells would ring. After struggling for a while to remember the song, Aamira started to ring the bells. The curved crater magnified the sound even more than usual. When Aamira stopped, the bells continued on their own. The volcano started to shake violently and they both held onto the stand that the bells were on as tightly as they could.

"You know, I've been wondering." Quill shouted over the noise. "At the other two temples, something always happened in the sky, but what would happen here? The lava's already rising, so what if this makes the volcano erupt?"

"I hadn't thought about that." Aamira shouted back. "I didn't think Moltres's song would destroy the islands she guards. But if it's true, we have to warn everyone!"

"How? There's no way out of here!"

Aamira looked around frantically. He was right. The way the edge of the volcano curved over made it impossible to climb out. The way they had come was probably filled with lava by now. They were stuck with no way out.

From far below them, they heard a loud screech. They inched closer to the edge of the volcano, but didn't dare let go of the bell stand. From far below them a bird with feathers made of fire shot out of the vent and hovered in front of Aamira and Quill.

"Climb on my back." She said to them.

The two of them jumped. Aamira expected to be burned by Moltres's feathers, but she didn't feel a thing.

"Is the volcano going to erupt?" Quill asked.

"No." Moltres said. "Just hang on tightly. You don't want to miss what happens next."

She flew up into the air, straining a bit from the extra weight, then started to circle around the volcano. She screeched loudly and a large plume of soot shot out of the volcano and filled the air. She flew a little higher to avoid getting covered in it. From this height they could see that it was every volcano in Ignis that was smoking. The soot wasn't like the usual soot though. It fell quickly to the ground instead of floating and gradually falling.

Moltres flew a little lower and started to circle near the base of the volcano. The sight was amazing. Every plant that the soot landed on started to spring back to life. The trees were filled with leaf buds and flowers and blades of grass started to sprout out of the ground. Old shrubs began to grow new bright green needles.

Moltres flew as low to the ground as she could without running into anyone. A few people screamed and ran out of her path. As she flew some of the flower pedals were swept off of the trees by her tail wind and seemed to be following them. They could see a few pokemon on the ground staring up at Moltres with amazement. Moltres flapped her wings and all of the pedals scattered.

"This is amazing!" Quill shouted.

"I just remembered!" Aamira said. "Charmeleon said spring hadn't come to Ignis in a long time. Seeing Moltres is supposed to signal the arrival of spring."

"That's right." Moltres said. "Every year I would ring the bells so that soot would fill the air. Areas around volcanoes usually have the best soil because of the minerals in the soot, but while I was asleep, so was the volcano. The nutrients in the soil eventually faded away and there was no way for it to be replenished. All of the plants died, but now they're growing back. The soot I make in the volcano is different from the usual sort. It can make the plants spring back to life almost immediately."

The two of them watched over Moltres's shoulders. When she spotted Entei in the center of town along with Regirock, Ruko and Charmeleon, she landed and let the two of them off.

"I can see why you wish you could fly!" Quill said to Aamira. "That was incredible!"

"It's even better than I remember…" Charmeleon mumbled quietly to himself while gazing around at all of the new plants.

Everyone was quiet for a while, but then Entei spoke to Charmeleon. "I sensed it when I saw you before. You weren't strong enough to be able to make the door open, even if you combined you power with Aamira's. So how were you able to pull it off?"

"I'm not sure if I really did anything." Charmeleon said. "You should ask Quill."

"Oh?" Entei turned to Quill.

Quill looked nervously up at Entei. "Well, lately is seems like a lot of strange things have been happening. Articuno's gem shone when I held it, but neither of the others would. When I was attack by Honchkrow outside of an old house, I used this attack I've never even seen before. Afterwards I couldn't even remember doing it. Lately I've been able to hear things that no one else can, and for the longest time I thought I could see legendary pokemon when no one else could. Then just a minute ago, Aamira, Charmeleon, and myself combined our attacks to open the hidden staircase and my fire turned blue."

Ruko's ears twitched. Something Quill said seemed to have interested him. "You and Aamira have always had auras that matched up perfectly with one another. Because of this you could sense her emotions before, isn't that right?" Quill nodded and he continued. "Have the two of you ever felt connected in a way where you almost seemed to feel like you were inside each other's minds? In a way you knew what the other was planning without having to speak?"

"That happened just recently in the Ocean Temple!" Aamira said. "When we were fighting Honchkrow."

Entei smirked and glanced over at Ruko. Ruko nodded and turned to Aamira and Quill. "I had begun to suspect it when Quill's senses started to improve; first with his sight with seeing legendary pokemon and more recently with his hearing. Until now though, I couldn't be entirely sure. It would seem that not only is Aamira an Aura Reader, but Quill is also an Aura Guardian."


	32. Chapter 32 Wynaut's Riddle

Ruko looked around to see if anyone was listening in. "The two of you, follow us." he walked towards the volcano with Entei.

"Hey, what about me?" Charmeleon asked. "I'm supposed to be their guide while they're here."

"They'll catch up later." Ruko said waving his hand nonchalantly. "Come on, you two!"

Aamira and Quill glanced at each other uncertainly and followed after Ruko.

"Have you ever heard of an Aura Guardian?" Quill asked Aamira.

Aamira shook her head. "It's new to me. I have no idea what could be going on."

They followed Ruko and Entei for a while before they reached a cave in the side of the volcano. Ruko scanned the area with his aura while everyone else walked deeper into the cave. He came back a few moments later. "It doesn't seem like we were followed. Without that bug on Aamira, Honchkrow must be having more trouble than usual finding the two of you.

"So what's an Aura Guardian?" Quill asked.

"First off." Ruko said. "Aura Guardians area extremely rare and hardly anyone even remembers them anymore. It used to be that they outnumbered Aura Readers by a great amount, but a few people who made themselves known as their enemies started to target Aura Guardians because they thought that it was the Aura Guardians that gave Aura Readers their strength. If an enemy found out about this, it would put you both in danger. So tell no one!

"Secondly, Aura Guardians have similar abilities to Aura readers, though they differ slightly. While an Aura Reader can figure out something that's happening in any time in the world where they currently live, Aura Guardians can only find out what's currently happening, but in any place, including another world. They often have heightened senses, such as sensitive hearing or being able to see along a different spectrum of light than most people. The reason you've been able to see the 'ghosts' of legendary pokemon in the past is because of this heightened vision."

"It's all starting to make sense." Aamira said. "That's why you've been seeing these legendary pokemon when I can't." she turned back to Ruko. "So what are those legendary pokemon 'ghosts' anyway? I can never sense their aura even when Quill sees one nearby. And once Eevee was able to see one too. Would that make him an Aura Guardian?"

"These ghosts are really the remnants of energy that legendary pokemon have emanated. You can't sense them because the amounts of energy are so small after fading throughout the years. Some paranormal fans refer to them as ghosts and call these sort of 'hauntings' residual hauntings. They're there whether anyone else is or not, sort of like a recording. As for Eevee being able to see these sorts of things, it's not too uncommon for children to be more effected than older people. Eevee especially since they're so easily manipulated by their surroundings."

"But back to Aura Guardians." Entei said speaking for the first time through the conversation. "My master, Ho-oh, believed that humans and pokemon were too different to live together, so she separated them by moving humans to a different world. As it turns out, humans and pokemon literally can't live without one another. This might even be the reason Aamira ended up here in the first place. Back in the old days, Aura Readers and Guardians were separated from any family when they were still babies. They were raised by seniors and had no contact with anyone else until meeting their partners. Aura Readers and Guardians were always partnered with compatible partners of the opposite type."

"And it's determined by our aura?" Quill asked.

"Correct." Entei said. "Aura Readers may be known for their silver and gold colored aura, but every person also has a 'core aura' said to come directly from a person's soul that has a type rather than color. Another thing about the Aura Readers and Guardians was that one was always a human while the other was a pokemon. The type of pokemon that the human was paired with depended solely on the type of their core aura. Aamira's was fire, which makes it a bit strange that she should turn into a fighting type pokemon rather than a fire type. It does explain, however, why you used to be able to sense her emotions."

"But why can't he anymore?" Aamira asked. "Can aura change type or…"

"No." Entei said. "But it would seem that something's blocking it. Can I see the scars you're hiding under those bandages?"

Aamira hesitated and unwrapped the bandages from her arm. She was used to seeing the burn-like scars by now, but it was still as disturbing as ever. No matter how much time passed, they never faded or started to look any better.

"Those are emotional scars, it seems." Ruko said.

"Yes." Entei nodded. "It makes sense now. Someone seems to have put a powerful seal on you. I doubt any Aura Reader will be able to break it. These scars obviously come from a traumatic event of some sort. Even if you don't remember it, it will probably hang over you for the rest of you life."

"Well isn't this just great?" Aamira said moodily. "But what does that have to do with my core aura?"

"A traumatic event like this is likely to have a lasting effect on a person. Doubled with a seal and what would you expect? It's like a flying type pokemon getting caught in a storm and being so emotionally hurt that they're never able to fly again."

Aamira remembered back to when Latias first hatched. What had happened before then had scared her so much that it took her a day to learn how to fly when they're normally able to automatically when they're first born.

"So what does this mean for us now?" Quill asked.

"It means…" Ruko paused as if trying to find the right words. "It means that the both of you will have to undergo a lot of difficult training to be able to understand and use your abilities."

"Not that I can even use mine." Aamira crossed her arms. "Not without Lucario here anyway."

"That is a problem." Entei said. "Things always seem to come in threes. My brother's and I, for example, and Moltres and her sisters."

"I will think of a curriculum for the two of you, but in the meantime, you should go on as if this conversation has never occurred." Ruko's ears twitched and he looked towards one of the cave walls. "I do believe some new guests have arrived. You might want to go greet them.

Feeling slightly more confused than when their conversation had started, Quill and Aamira headed back outside. It was a bright day and the sunlight dazzled them for a moment. Aamira took a deep breath. It was the day of the spring festival and the whole island smelled like flowers, new grass, and a slight scent of ash that was used to make it happen.

The two of them screamed and covered their heads with their arms as a sudden gust of wind rushed past.

"Knock it off, you two!" Aamira shouted over the gale.

Slowly the wind subsided and two pokemon seemed to materialize out of nowhere right in front of them. It was Latias and Latios.

"Aww, you knew it was us!" Latias said. "You're getting better at this!"

"I hope so." Aamira said. "I feel like I'm on a bad luck streak lately."

"We all get those." Latios reassured her. "Don't worry about it; you'll be doing okay soon."

Quill looked around for something to talk about, but their conversation of Ruko left them unable to think about anything else. It didn't make sense that they couldn't tell Latias and Latios about it, even though they were a lot younger compared to most other legendary pokemon. Luckily for them, Latias had already thought of something.

"Hey, I heard that Pikachu from Tempestas showed up here recently!" Latias said excitedly. "And you know how Ignis and Tempestas are when they get together!"

"So everyone's arriving now for the festival." Quill said. "What about Aequor? They don't like them either."

Latios shook his head. "We noticed some disturbance in the ocean. Seems like they're having trouble with something right now. Either way, we should probably go make sure that nothing happens to that Tempestas guy before the tournament even starts."

They had admittedly forgotten about the tournament in all that was happening. The four of them rushed off to find where Pikachu could have gone. They found him on the other side of the island, talking with another group of pokemon, all of whom they recognized. Team Rapids, Primeape from Team Sky, Team overgrow, and both Typhlosion and Charmeleon from Team Blazer.

"Hey, what's going on?" Aamira asked, running up to the group of pokemon.

"Trouble." Typhlosion said. "Looks like aside from you two and Team Phoenix, none of the top teams from last year will be participating."

"What!" Quill shouted. "Why?"

"Well, thanks to my dear father…!" Pikachu said sarcastically. "I'm stuck representing Tempestas for the tournament. Without me being able to participate, the rest of my team can't either!"

"Same for me." Charmeleon said. "Dad's out of commission for now, so I have to take his place."

"Altaria from Divum asked us to represent." Primeape said. "She liked our team's name last year and we became pretty good friends. Too bad, but we can't participate either."

"What about you?" Aamira asked Sceptile. "Nothing happened in Silva, did it?"

"I'm not entirely sure…" Sceptile said. "It's been a while since we've been there, but Noctowl sent us a message saying that he wants us to represent him. What a mess. I recently got a reply from Milotic too. She's having trouble back in her country so they're not even competing this year."

"Unfortunately." Crawdaunt cut in. "Every leader from every nation or a representative has to be present. It's to symbolize world peace or something."

"We didn't even get to compete LAST year!" Croconaw was obviously annoyed by the turn of events. "Unfortunately, we visited Aequor back when we were wandering around and Slowking asked us to fill in for him."

"On top of that," Charmeleon cut in, "It looks like Metagross is wanting his sons to learn something about responsibility. So they'll be taking his place this year. Apparently they're still steaming over it too."

"So are any of the leaders coming?" Quill asked.

"Altaria says she might be able to make it, but not until the semi-finals at the earliest. By then it would be too late for Team Sky to enter." Typhlosion said.

"Fearow can make it." Charmeleon said. "I don't think you two have met her yet. Not that strange since she's always flying around doing this and that. She's the leader of Pacis."

"Lapras too. She'll be here." Pikachu said. "Ugh, it figures that the leaders of the two wimpiest countries are the only ones who will be here.

"It shouldn't take a water and a flying type to take too long to get here at least." Charmeleon said.

"So of all of the teams that are competing, how many from last year?" Aamira asked.

"Well you guys and Team Phoenix makes two." said Ambipom while counting on the fingers of her left tail. "Blastois wanted to, but they still have their hands full. Roy and Sandshrew's team is competing which I guess would be like a half, since Roy competed with our team last year. There are a few minor teams from last year, but no big contenders."

"What happened to Team Rio?" Aamira asked.

"They were expelled from the competition after making death threats last year." Sceptile said. "You can never be sure what's an accident and what was done on purpose during a tournament like this."

"But this is a huge mess." Charmeleon said. "Usually there are three parts of the tournament, right? But with all of the teams going off on urgent missions lately, there aren't enough people for that. In fact, there aren't even enough people for the teams to compete together!"

"Wait, what does that mean exactly?" Quill asked.

He rubbed his hand on his forehead, obviously becoming increasingly annoyed. "It means that anyone who enters will be as individuals. It will be more like the finals for the tournament. There just aren't enough competitors for two elimination rounds. It's just going to be a competition style tournament. The winner of one match moves onto the next."

"So every country can compete, we were going to make it so that only the leader of each team can enter."

"What!" Both Aamira and Quill shouted at once.

"So only one of us can compete!" Aamira asked.

"Not exactly." Charmeleon said. "You both made it to the semi-finals last time. You're the only ones who did that who are competing this year. As such, a lot of people are counting on one of you to win. Here's the thing. If one of you enters, and gets knocked out of the tournament, everyone would wonder if something different would have happened if the other of you competed. So to keep that from happening and people being divided up as supporters for the two of you, we want you both to enter."

"That's what we were discussing when the two of you showed up." Venusaur said. "It would be a lot better if two pokemon were allowed to enter. This way there are nine competitors, which makes it an odd number. We've been discussing having Ninetales wait until the next round to enter, since she's representing the host country, but we just can't figure out a way to make this work. Everyone wants both members of team Sandstone to enter too, but they're not really affiliated with any country. If they both did enter, it would make it an even ten though."

"I think I understand the situation now." Latios said. "Only one pokemon can win the tournament, and since there aren't enough teams competing, there can't be a preliminary match with all of the teams working together. One country has one too many competing, and two others don't represent a country at all. But how about this? Aamira wasn't even born in this world. The first country she technically visited was Atra, where she technically formed a team first with Lucario. Quill, on the other hand, was born in Ignis, but his team was formed in Sylva, so him representing them wouldn't be out of the question."

"So you're saying have Aamira represent Atra?" Charmeleon asked. "It could work. If I remember correctly, Lucario did initially train her there too, so if anything it's as if she would have been a member of that country more than anything. Because of her aura she could have even become its next leader if she wanted to." He turned to Aamira. "What say you on this matter?"

"Well if it means Quill and I can both compete, I don't mind." She said. "But what about the pokemon who live in Atra? Would they really be okay with me representing them without their consent?"

"Leave that to me." They all turned to see Ruko standing there, as if he had just appeared out of thin air. "I'm familiar with the people of Atra. I'm sure that they wouldn't mind. After all, you, Lucario, and Quill did save them from a tyrant. If you still have any doubts, I can go and talk to them on your behalf."

"You can go to Atra?" Quill asked. Ruko nodded. "Well that's great! But, what about Team Sandstone?"

"If I remember correctly…" Latias said. "Roy was the one who helped to free the pokemon in Mismagius's army while they were in Desolo. Charmeleon said so himself."

"That's right, I almost forgot about that." Charmeleon said.

"I can go to Desolo." Latias said. "Flying pokemon have a special entrance far above the clouds. After I get there, I can ask Mewtwo about it."

"What about Sandshrew?" Quill asked?

"He's already agreed to represent Chalybs." Ruko said.

"How do you know all of this?" Quill asked nervously. Ruko seemed to know everything sometimes.

"That's not important." He lifted his staff and pointed it to Charmeleon. "Charmeleon, you have the roster for the tournament, yes? I believe that all of the positions have been filled now?"

Charmeleon took a clipboard from his bag and looked at the paper clipped to it and took out a quill pen to make a few notes here and there. "Sure enough, that's everyone. It's too bad that Aequor can't compete," There was an obvious hint of sarcasm in his voice, "But this makes it an even ten and no country has more than one pokemon representing them."

"But what about the second round?" Aamira asked. "There will be five pokemon competing then, right?"

"I had planned to hold an exhibition match at some point. If no one's disqualified this year or nothing else happens, it could be held then and the winner be added to the roster."

"But who would compete in the exhibition match?" Aamira asked.

"Anyone who wants to." Charmeleon said. "It doesn't matter which country they're from, if they win, they're added and their country will be given a not-so-unfair advantage. Or if someone from Aequor happens to arrive then, they'll be able to join the tournament."

"The problem comes after that." Typhlosion said. "Then there will be three competing. In a way it's a problem, and in another, an opportunity. The theme for the tournament is three. It's supposed to honor the first Investigation Team, which was a team of three. Also, a lot of legendary pokemon are grouped into threes. Since we can't have three stages of the tournament this year, then three semi-finalists is the next best thing. I had an idea that we would let the three semi-finalists compete in a free for all event. The first one to be knocked out will be eliminated and the remaining two will go on to the finals."

"So we finally have everything figured out." Charmeleon said. "The other competitors should arrive shortly, so the two of you can enjoy the festival until then."

Everyone went their separate ways now that all of the confusion was sorted out. Quill, Aamira, and Ruko were the only ones left aside from Latias and Latios.

"We really got here too early…" Latias said. "The tournament doesn't actually start for two days. Today is the opening ceremony and tomorrow is the exhibition match."

"We still need to get to Desolo." Latios said. "But after that maybe we could have some fun at the festival together."

"Okay!" Aamira said. "Hurry back!"

"Us? Hurry?" Latias asked sarcastically with a sly wink. "You know we never hurry."

It a sudden blast of wind, the two of them vanished and a sonic boom came a few seconds later.

"They're even faster than last time…" Quill said. "I guess it makes sense seeing as how they're still technically growing up."

"Now then…" Ruko limped towards them, holding onto his staff. "Entei and I have decided on a course for the two of you to follow. We'll begin like in the old days with the two of you working separately, then tomorrow the two of you will be brought back together to train as a team again. Until then, you, Aamira will come with me, and you, Quill, will go with Entei. If all goes well, you should be back here by the time the tournament starts at the latest. Any questions?"

"So when do we start?" Aamira asked.

Ruko smirked. "I expected no less from you. What about you, Quill?"

"I'm not really used to this…" Quill put a paw to his Joy Ribbon. "Because of this I've never gone to do any special training before. I wonder if I'll keep up…"

"Don't worry about it." Ruko said. "Now then, Moltres and Entei are waiting not far from here. Moltres has agreed to fly us to a nearby island, but I'm not sure where Entei has decided to take you."

"Oh…" Quill said unenthusiastically. "Well, I'm sure everything will turn out well."

In a clearing some ways away, they found Entei and Moltres waiting for them. Aamira and Ruko climbed onto Moltres's back and left Quill and the island far underneath them.

"So what's this island like?" Aamira asked over the wind.

"You'll see when we get there. There are some natives living on the island who will be teaching you their secret technique."

"I've not been to an island like it before today." Moltres said. "It must have formed sometime after I fell asleep. It's really nice there though, and perfect for training, I'd say. But Ruko, how did you know about it?"

"Being an Aura Reader, I know a lot of things, even if they don't make sense." He replied.

"Don't try to fool me." Moltres said with an especially vigorous flap of her wings. "I knew many Aura Readers and Guardians, from master to novice, and none like you. There must be a way you know about everything that's happening now."

"There is, but I'd rather not speak about it too loudly." After that he refused to say anything more on the matter. Aamira knew that he didn't come from this time, but even so why would he know all of this stuff? He wasn't involved in any way with what was happening that they knew. He would have to have happened to be researching the exact areas they would have been in at the exact time and it just seemed to be too unreasonable.

They landed in the middle of a village full of a bunch of blue colored pokemon that Aamira had never seen before. Moltres nodded them farewell and took off to head back to Ignis.

"Good morning!" One of the bigger pokemon said to a smaller pokemon with an excited wave.

"Hey, hey!" The smaller pokemon said. "Beautiful weather, Wynaut?"

"Sure is!" The bigger pokemon replied.

There were various conversations like this all over. All of the pokemon seemed so happy and peaceful, it was enough to put anyone in a good mood.

"This is Wobbo Village." Ruko said. "These pokemon are Wobbuffet and Wynaut. They have a very unique and effective way of fighting that might be useful for you and make training a bit easier."

Aamira couldn't believe that these pokemon were even capable of fighting. They all looked so peaceful and fun loving. Aamira looked up at Ruko and raised an eyebrow. "They fight?"

He laughed. "Well, not exactly. You'll find out what I mean soon enough."

"Uncle Ruko!" A bunch of the Wynaut, who were a lot smaller than most of the other Wynaut came running over.

"Oh, hello kids!" Ruko said with a big smile. "Energetic as always, I see!"

"Uncle Ruko, are you here to tell us more stories?" A female Wynaut asked.

"Oh, of course! Of course! But first I must find your Village Head. I've made a deal with him and I must make sure he hasn't forgotten."

They all shouted excitedly and ran off and started a game of tag while they waited for Ruko. Aamira noticed a certain sparkle in his eyes that she had noticed before, but it seemed even greater than before.

"What's with you all of a sudden?" Aamira asked.

Ruko started to walk through the village in search of the village Head and Aamira followed after him. "Ah, when you get to be my age, you have nothing to look forward to, only back. My childhood wasn't quite like this, but I had the pleasure of raising a few kids myself in earlier years."

"Wait, you mean you're a dad?" Aamira asked, slightly amused by the thought, though it somehow wasn't that surprising.

Ruko sighed. "Well, I had a son. I didn't see as much of him as I would have hoped. My wife died shortly after he hatched. I have a grandson too. He was cute as a little kid, but turned into a bit of a monster later on."

Aamira laughed, wondering if she had ever gone into a rebellious age where she hated everything her parents said and did.

"Other than that," he continued, "I had quite a few students, all of which turned into great and powerful masters. Compared to you, they could be considered legendaries. Even deities."

"I've got a long way to go then…" Aamira said, entranced by the thought.

"Maybe so, but natural talent has a lot to do with it. And you have plenty of it, believe me."

They found a Wobbuffet asleep under a large palm tree. He was a little bigger than most of the other Wobbuffet, so Aamira figured that he was the one they were looking for.

"Excuse me." Ruko said.

The Wobbuffet lazily lifted his head and looked up at him. "Oh, Ruko. Here to see my older brother again?"

"Yes, do you know were I could find him?" Ruko asked.

"Wait, so he's not the Village Head?" Aamira asked.

The Wobbuffet began laughing outrageously. "Oh, no! You're looking for my older brother. Trust me, if you've come to learn the Quickpaw technique, you're better off asking him than me."

'So this technique is called Quickpaw? I've never even heard of it before. It doesn't sound like an attack, so it must be an entire fighting style.' Aamira thought.

"He's at his usual spot." Wobbuffet pointed lazily to the left before falling back to sleep.

"I should have known." Ruko shook his head. "Still trying to solve all of the mysteries of the pokemon world. Come on, then. He should be in the forest."

The forest was filled with pokemon who didn't seem to be effected at all by the previous aura distortion. Most were basking in the sun or ran away as soon as they saw them to avoid any possible confrontation. Aamira had never seen so many pokemon acting this way.

"Someone help!" A few bird pokemon flew from the tree tops after being spooked by the noise.

The two of them moved towards the sound of the shout. They found a clearing with a large white rock and a Wynaut up in a tree waving one of his arms in a desperate attempt to scare off a group of Arbok.

"Stuck in a tree again, eh?" Ruko asked.

"Now's not the time for jokes!" The Wynaut shouted. "Just scare them off with your spheary thingy!"

Aamira was about to go to his aid, but Ruko stopped her with his staff. "Oh no, you got yourself into this mess. Again. Now you have to get yourself out of it."

"Aw, you're so unfair!" Wynaut shouted.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Aamira asked. "That looks like a lot of enemies for him to fight off at once."

"Don't worry; just watch."

The Wynaut quickly let go of the tree before he decided to change his mind about fighting for himself. The Arbok all struck at the same time. Wynaut posed like he was about to karate chop the one closest to him. Just as he attacked there was a blinding light. When it faded, all of the Arbok were lying out cold on the ground.

"Whew!" He said while wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I wasn't sure I'd get out of that one."

Aamira pointed at him and looked back and fourth between him and the Arbok. "But… But you… You weren't sure if you would make it? How did you…? What kind of attack was that?"

"T'was no attack, little Riolu friend." He said cheerfully. "That was the Quickpaw technique, taught to me by my great, great, grandpa."

"Wait…" Aamira turned to Ruko. "This is the Village Head?"

Ruko chuckled. "And why should it surprise you? Ah, well never mind. You remember our agreement, yes?"

"Of course!" Wynaut said to Ruko. "By tomorrow she'll be an expert at this technique. I promise."

"Well, if that's the case, I'll leave the two of you to your training." Ruko turned and left without saying another word.

Aamira watched him leave, then turned back to Wynaut. She screamed and fell backwards when she saw him standing less than a foot away from her. She hadn't heard sensed him sneak up on her at all.

"Ey, you okay?" Wynaut asked. "Didn't mean to sneak up on you like that!" he smiled and reached a hand out to help her up.

"I'm sorry, it's just… You're not exactly what I had in mind when I found out someone else would be teaching me."

"Ruko's right though. Aren't you surprised by that old guy's speed and strength? Why should I be any different?"

Aamira looked over to the Arbok who were painfully slithering away. "If you don't mind me asking, why did they attack you like that?"

"Didn't want to hurt them, honestly." He said. "I was looking at their patterns and getting a little too close to their nests. It's their mating season, you know? They were only protecting their eggs."

"Why were you looking at their patterns?" Aamira asked.

"All of their patterns are different. Sometimes they even change. I wanted to know why exactly they have different patterns, what they mean, and how they benefit Arbok. No one really knows, not even the Arbok. Just curious is all. I actually agreed to train you because Ruko saved me when I was attacked by Dugtrio after I tried to pull a Diglett out of the ground to look at its feet. They didn't like that much…"

"I'd imagine not… So how do we start?"

Wynaut crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly. "You know, I'm not too sure."

Aamira felt her temper starting to rise, but quickly fought to control it. "You don't know?"

"Well, I always thought grandpa's method was a bit… drastic…"

"I don't care. I've got to learn this by tomorrow. My friend will be finished with his training by then also."

"Ah, I see." Wynaut scratched his head. "Alright then, but don't get mad at me when you find out what it is."

Aamira followed him deeper into the forest. The trees grew steadily denser and it gradually became darker. Aamira looked up and noticed that most of what was blocking the sun was a bunch of nests built really high into the trees.

"That's the Chatot's doing. In dense tropical forests like this, they prefer to mesh their nests together with one another. One day when nests completely cover the trees, no light will reach down here and all of the plants down beneath will die."

"Can't you stop it?" Aamira asked.

"We could, but why should we? It's not as if it would do any harm. Look over here." He ran ahead and stopped at the edge of a huge hole in the ground. "Down there is the original forest. The one we're in now is a forest that grew on top of the old one when the Chatot filled the trees with their nests once before. Down there's an entirely different world."

Aamira edged a little closer and peered down. She could just barely see the bottom. "It must have turned into a dungeon at one point, right? It must be full of vicious pokemon to make up for all of the peaceful ones in the area."

"You've hit the nail on the head." Wynaut reached behind Aamira and pushed her. She lost her balance and screamed as she tumbled down into the subterranean forest.

She got up painfully and rubbed her head, then looked up at Wynaut and shouted. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!"

"I told you his method was drastic!" He shouted back. "I'll be waiting at the exit. If you're not there by morning I'll come looking for you, but you automatically fail!"

"AND WHAT EXACTLY AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!"

"Get out, obviously! But remember, you can't defeat the enemies there!"

"WHY NOT!"

"They're too strong! And you'll do best not to keep shouting; they might hear you!"

"So what, am I just supposed to run around trying to find the exit and stay out of fights?"

"Not exactly." He said. "There's no way to avoid them."

"So what do I do!"

"Defeat your enemies without defeating them!"

"WHAT!"

"Just remember! They're a lot stronger than you!" After that, Wynaut left, and Aamira looked at her surroundings, panic stricken.

The strange energy of the dungeon had allowed some of the plants to grow back, which made it more eerie, if anything. Aamira heard some rustling in some nearby bushes and hurried off, trying to figure out how to defeat enemies without defeating them.


	33. Chapter 33 The Flames of Team Beak

Aamira leaned up against a nearby tree to catch her breath. She had no idea how long she had been running and there was still no end in sight of this monstrous dungeon. She had been attacked so many times she lost count.

Aamira sighed and desperately dug around in her bag. For the first time in a long time, she felt the bottom. She looked down in it to see a shocking sight. "Only two Oran Berries left? I don't think I'm even on the third floor yet. There's no telling how big this dungeon really is!"

"Are you alright?"

Aamira straightened up, almost forgetting about how tired she was. An orange and peach colored bird pokemon stepped out from behind a tree. "You look tired." He said. "Still, not many pokemon come around here from above anymore."

"Who are you?" Aamira asked. Normally the pokemon in dungeons would have gone insane and wouldn't be able to muster up enough reason to even remember how to talk. More powerful pokemon might be able to speak, but they're usually a lot stronger than the other pokemon in the dungeon and would attack without reason anyway. This pokemon seemed perfectly composed here. Her first thought was that he was either an incredible Investigator, or an amazingly powerful outlaw that she had run into at the worst possible time.

"My name is Blaziken." He talked so calmly and his eyes were so blank and face so expressionless that for a moment Aamira didn't think he had emotions. It took her a minute to realize that this wasn't the case; he had just become a master at hiding them. "I came here a few years ago with a partner to find a treasure that's supposed to be hidden here. We never found it and my partner eventually got fed up and left. Just goes to show that quitters never win."

"So you mean to say you found it?" Aamira asked curiously.

"'We' never found it, but I did eventually." Blaziken reached into the bag tied around his neck and pulled out a large blue glass ring that looked large enough to fit around Aamira's wrist. "It's pretty valuable, as small as it is. In fact, it also happens to be a Riolu specific item. Oh, you might need this." He reached into his bag and took out a golden berry and tossed it to Aamira. "It's a Sitrus Berry. It'll help you recover all of your strength."

"Is it really okay for me to take it?" Aamira asked.

"Of course. I have plenty so it's no big deal. There are plenty around here if you know where to look."

Aamira ate it gratefully. It was a lot sweeter than an Oran Berry and really juicy. Sure enough, she felt a lot of her strength return. "So why are you still here if you found the treasure you were after?"

"I didn't want to go back." Blaziken said. "My partner left me in the middle of our Investigation. If I went back we would never be able to patch things up between us. We weren't exactly friends; just partners. It was bound to happen eventually. This is a pretty good place to train too, if you know your enemy's weaknesses. I don't just mean type advantages either. There are a lot of water types here that I normally wouldn't do too well against."

"So you stayed for training?" Aamira asked. 'How could this guy stand it here for so long? I can barely keep from fainting and he's been down here for who knows how long.'

"So, would you be interested in this little trinket?" Blaziken said while carelessly tossing the ring around one of his claws. "I've lost interest in any sort of monetary gain. This item is of no use to me since it only affects Riolu and Lucario."

"Wait, you would just give me a rare item like that?" Aamira asked.

"Not exactly." Blaziken flicked his claw, throwing it up in the air, and caught it in his palm. "You'll have to play a bit of a game with me first. If you win, it's all yours."

"What sort of game?" Aamira asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Well, you see, dungeon pokemon are so repetitive. Once you learn their behavior, they'll never change. They're too predictable. Pokemon hardly ever come here from the outside. It being on a remote island inhabited mainly by weaker pokemon means I never get a challenge."

"So you're saying to battle for it?"

"Not exactly." There was a strange look in his eyes that Aamira didn't exactly like. "I prefer games played for survival. In a head on battle you wouldn't last two seconds. I want to test your intelligence and see if you can outwit me. If you can make it to the dungeon exit or steal this ring from me before I can defeat you, then you win."

"And if I lose? What then? What if I'm not strong or smart enough to give you the experience you want?"

This was the first time Blaziken actually smiled. "You lose, simple as that. Though if I were you, I'd try not to. Let's just say that if you do lose, you'll never play a game like this one ever again. And I sincerely hope you don't have a partner waiting for you somewhere."

Aamira's eyes widened as she began to understand what kind of loss he was talking about. Basically this game was either get out before he catches up, or never get out again. "What if I don't want to play this game?" She asked. "I'm not any more greedy for treasure than you are."

"You honestly think I'm going to give you a choice? I'm going to give you a head start, of course. But if you refuse to play along, I'll just end the game now."

Aamira took a step back and jumped when a twig snapped beneath her foot. She hadn't even noticed that her legs had started shaking. "You're more of a child than I thought you were when I first saw you." He said. "Either way it doesn't matter to me. I've learned to be patient while in here. Why do you think I haven't left yet? It's not as if I'll attack right away. You'll have two hours. I suggest you make the best of it."

Aamira ran off blindly, barely paying attention to where she was going. When she finally stopped two floors later, Blaziken was nowhere to be seen. She had no idea how much time had passed; being in an underground dungeon kept her from knowing what time it was.

'What do I do?' She thought to herself. 'Something really did seem weird about Blaziken at first, but when he started talking about being part of an Investigation Team, I lowered my guard probably more than I should have. That was a pretty good mind trick he used back there.'

Aamira looked at her surroundings. Behind the trees, the scenery vanished into pitch black darkness. Above her was the same. She had already used all of her items. The dark wasn't that big of a deal since she could sense her surroundings, though it did depend a bit on how much energy was flowing through the dungeon. Because it was a high level dungeon, she wasn't able to sense much. It seemed like some aura version of static. But still, Blaziken was so strong she should have no trouble sensing him.

"Unless he's learned to hide it while training here…" She realized. Of course he wouldn't have hidden it before so that it would scare her and he would be able to catch her of guard later on. "What am I supposed to do?"

Aamira noticed the branch of a tree laying close by. If Blaziken was going to be coming after her with the intent to kill, she would have to defend herself as if her life depended on it.

"I can't do this anymore!" Quill collapsed on the ground, shaking all over. Sparks came out of his back as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Yes you can!" Entei said. "Your endurance isn't very good at all. As a fire type, other fire type attacks shouldn't do much harm against you. If you can swim through water, you should have no problem with lava."

Entei was laying on a rock in the center of a lava pool. They had started this training hours ago, but Quill was hardly improving. He kept wondering if Aamira was getting along just as badly as he was with his training. When Entei first brought them to this deserted volcanic island off the shore of Ignis, it didn't seem too bad. When Entei jumped to the center of a pool of lava and told Quill to swim to him, it took Quill a while to realize he wasn't joking.

"Water's one thing, lava's another! Even the Cyndaquil on Lava Lava Island who have been swimming their whole lives say it's impossible!" Quill sat on the ground and rubbed his head. Though something like this didn't usually happen, the heat from the lava was actually starting to give him a headache.

"You can do this." Entei said. "You've inherited my abilities as an Aura Guardian and have begun to learn an attack that's difficult to control, even for me. In order to control Eruption sufficiently, you must learn its weaker form first."

"So that's what swimming through lava's about?" Quill asked. "But it's so much thicker than water and it's impossible to see. The heat burns my eyes even if I don't dive under or keep my eyes open like you're making me, and it's impossible to see anyway. How is this supposed to teach me a new move?"

Entei growled and clawed lazily at the solidified magma beneath his paws. "You said you couldn't even remember using Eruption before. You have no idea what lava feels like versus fire. Fire and lava are two entirely different things. The only similarity is heat! If you can't take the heat, how can you even call yourself a fire pokemon? Some fire types have internal body temperatures that are much hotter than this!"

Quill sighed. He didn't think it would be a good idea to argue with a legendary pokemon, but he wondered if Entei knew how to train a lesser pokemon like himself. Either way, he wasn't getting anywhere just sitting there. Quill held his breath and dove into the lava again.

The worst part was how inconsistent it was. Some areas were hotter than others and some areas were rocky or very thin and liquid like. Whenever there was a sudden change, Quill would panic and swim to the surface. This time was no exception. Even when he tried to get out, it felt like the lava was holding him and didn't want to let go. It was a terrible feeling.

The ground was covered in mounds of solidified lava where quill had climbed out of the pool repeatedly. He laid on his stomach, ready to burst into tears from this intense training. He didn't think anything Aamira was doing would be nearly as hard as this.

This Ariados was faster than Aamira had expected. The worst part was that she didn't want to defeat it right away, so she was getting tired pretty fast. It opened its mouth and some purple spikes shot out towards Aamira.

"Finally!" Aamira ran and the Ariados followed with its attack until the entire path across the room was covered with Toxic Spikes. Aamira jumped and attacked the Ariados with Force Palm. She was lucky that this was one of the weaker pokemon in the dungeon.

"Now to hide the spikes. But first, I'm exhausted…" Just as Aamira was about to lean against a tree to take a short break, a huge Armaldo jumped out and attacked her with its vicious claws. Aamira dodged a little too late and ended up getting cut on the very edge of her tail.

Armaldo turned and shot a water gun towards her. Aamira crossed her arms and blocked it, not wanting to dodge in case it washed away the Toxic Spikes that she had worked so hard to get. Aamira fired a couple of Aura Spheres at it. Armaldo dug its claws into the ground and used a Sand Attack to push them back. Aamira got hit with her own attack, but in the process, the toxic spikes got covered with dirt.

"That works." She said while looking back at her newly laid trap, then turning back to Armaldo. Armaldo had turned and started to run away while she was looking back at the Toxic Spike trap. Around her, some other pokemon were starting to run in the same direction. Aamira couldn't think of any pokemon aside from Blaziken who was strong enough to make the rest of these pokemon afraid.

Aamira ran down a side path and hid in the trees. She could just barely see Blaziken in the end of the corridor where she had hidden one of her traps. One of his arms had a large gash on it. She figured that it must have been from the stakes at the bottom of one of the pitfalls she made. Still, he seemed undeterred.

As he walked, Aamira heard something snap and realized that he cut through the trip wire that she had set up using the Ariados's String Shot attack. His eyes widened, though more in alertness than fear. He looked up and opened his beak. A torrent of flames came out, illuminating the entire area. Aamira stared fearfully, realizing for the first time just how strong he was.

The chestnuts that she had found and placed as a trap above the trip wire were all burnt to a crisp and their spiky outer layer was completely charred. They fell around Blaziken's feet. He held out his hand and caught one out of the air and ate it.

"Cooked to perfection." He said loudly. "You know, Riolu, if you just want to give me a snack to pay me back for the Sitrus Berry, you could have just laid it out for me to find instead of going through all of this trouble!"

Did he know Aamira was listening? Maybe he said something like this every time he fell into a trap and emerged unscathed just in case she was listening. 'I'm tired.' She thought. 'I'm hurt. There's no way I could battle him in this state. He must have given me that Sitrus Berry just to test my full potential.'

Blaziken continued to walk across the room towards the corridor she had hidden herself in.

"You know," Blaziken said as he continued to walk slowly towards her. "After a while alone in here, you become prepared for anything. Your senses become acute to other pokemon. Your eyes can see where certain types are prone to hide. Your ears become so acute that you can identify the pokemon simply by the sound of its footsteps. Smell seems to be the most effected though. To be able to differentiate between plant and pokemon or even plant pokemon. Every pokemon had its own distinct smell. Seeing as how there are no Riolu in here, you stick out like a sore thumb."

A part of Aamira was about to just give up. What else could she do in this situation? There was no way she could win, Blaziken seemed to be too strong to be defeated by a simple poison trap.

'I could try to talk him out of this.' Aamira thought. 'I could try to convince him to teach me how to fight in the jungle against pokemon so many times stronger than he is. Then I could ask for a rematch and finally get out of here. It probably wouldn't work though.'

A sudden realization came over Aamira that made her more afraid than ever. Most pokemon who stayed in a dungeon for too long were turned into a dungeon pokemon, who had completely lost their senses and would attack any intruders. But Blaziken had been in here all this time. Even if he was an Investigator and his Aura Glass had protected him for a while, after so long it wouldn't have kept working. It explained his weird behavior. He must have been some sort of cross between a dungeon boss and a pokemon who wasn't effected by the dungeon. All of the strength and lack of emotion of a boss, and all of the cunning and reasoning skills of any pokemon who wasn't affected at all. No wonder all of the other pokemon were so afraid.

Blaziken stopped right in front of the Toxic Spike Trap. "Really? You think I would fall for a trap so poorly laid?" He picked up a fan-shaped leaf from the floor. "For a little biology lesson, this is the leaf that grows on the hand of a Shiftry. They fall off every now and then when either the weather changes drastically or they need to grow bigger leaves. There are always a new set of leaves already growing underneath, but the discarded leaves are often just left lying on the forest floor if they aren't used to build nests by other pokemon. One thing about a Shiftree's leaves is that they can be used as the most powerful fan in the world, even if they're not attached to the pokemon."

Shiftree whipped his hand back, causing a huge whirlwind from the Shiftry Fan. The wind completely uncovered the Toxic Spikes and sent them all flying towards Aamira.

Two things happened at once. The spikes hit Aamira, causing her to take the full brunt of the poisons effect, and she was blown out of her hiding place by the whirlwind. She watched fearfully as she sped towards a chasm. As much as she tried to grab onto something, she was just being blown away too fast. As she neared the cliff, she hit the ground. She tried to claw onto it, but the momentum kept her going until she fell right over the edge.

A while later, Blaziken ran towards the edge of the cliff. He looked around for any sign of her. He noticed the claw marks leading towards the edge of the cliff. "There's no way she could have survived a fall like that. And even if she did, I wouldn't want to go down there."

Aamira had no idea how much time had passed. She just remembered hitting something that felt like something squishy and covered in leaves before she passed out. She tried to sit up, but she was in a lot of pain and she was shaking too badly.

As her mind started to clear, she noticed that a few things were out of place. She remembered falling off of a cliff, yet she was somehow laying in the hollow of a tree near a forest clearing. Aside from that, there was also a pile of leave underneath her. It didn't seem like the leaves would have blown into the tree on their own. Someone had saved her when she fell and made her this bed so she had somewhere to sleep while she healed. Blaziken? No, it couldn't have been. Why would he save her?

"Oh, thank goodness you're finally awake." It was a loud voice, but Aamira couldn't see where it was coming from. "Are you alright?" The giant head of a pokemon poked through the hollow of the tree.

Aamira crawled towards the edge of the tree and saw that she was about ten feet above the ground. The pokemon who had recued her looked at her curiously. "What kind of pokemon are you? I've never seen one of you before."

"I'm a Riolu…" Aamira said nervously.

"Ah, so you're not from this dungeon, are you?" The pokemon asked kindly. "Then you must have had a run in with Blaziken."

"So this happens a lot?"

"I'm afraid so." She said. "A lot of pokemon he fight end up falling into my territory, like you did. Usually I'm lucky enough to catch them, but sometimes… Well, never mind that. It's pretty rare for a pokemon to survive whether I catch them or not. I think he's been going easy on most of the pokemon he finds lately. He must be getting too used to being able to defeat anything he comes across without trying. It says a bit about your own strength."

"So what about you?" Aamira asked. "Did he fight you too? Or do you live here?"

"I live here." She said. "My name's Tropius. Most pokemon would go insane from entering a dungeon, but I find this place to my liking with all of the food here. Delicious fruits wherever you look. So I've learned to tolerate it for that reason. Technically Blaziken did try to fight me a few times, but I sent him running in the other direction each time."

"You're that strong?" Aamira asked.

Tropius chuckled. She made this strange cooing sound whenever she talked or laugh that somehow made her seem like the most gentle and kind pokemon on the planet. "You get used to characters like him in here after a while. He's been in here for a few years, but I've lived here nearly my whole life. I don't even want to say how long that's been. But I can tell you're not like him. You seem willing to avoid a fight if you can."

"To tell you the truth," Aamira said, "I was kind of pushed into this dungeon by a Wynaut. I'm supposed to be training, but he never told me exactly what I was supposed to be doing. He just said to defeat the pokemon without defeating them, or something along those lines."

Tropius laughed again. "Those Wynaut and Wobbuffet are funny characters. I don't see how they do it, but they can go in and out of this dungeon as much as they want and leave with no more than a scratch. So why exactly are you training?"

Aamira wondered how much she could trust her, but Tropius had saved her. So she told her about the upcoming tournament, but she also mentioned Honchkrow and Hunter and a mysterious pokemon who is up to something big that they haven't even figured out yet.

"All I know," Aamira said, "is that a lot of pokemon are getting hurt because of this, so whatever's going on, I doubt it's anything good."

"So you're trying to protect the pokemon with that friend of yours that you mentioned, so the two of you went your separate ways for a while to train on your own."

"Yea." Aamira went quiet for a while. "My deadline was sunrise. It doesn't feel like sunrise yet, but I'm not even sure if I can leave yet. I still haven't figured out what I'm supposed to be doing here."

Tropius looked at Aamira sadly, and stretched her neck, revealing a few yellow fruits growing under her neck. "Here, try one of these." She suggested.

Aamira thought that it might hurt if she pulled off one of the fruits, but apparently that area of her neck was so tender that she couldn't really feel anything.

The fruit was actually harder than she expected. And there was a strange and somewhat familiar smell to it. She bit into it and was surprised by the taste. "It tastes like a Sitrus Berry."

Tropius nodded. "Yes. Fruit that are affected by the types of fruit we eat usually grow around our necks. If I preferred to eat apples, they would still look the same, but they would taste just like apples. Since I prefer Sitrus berries, they taste like Sitrus berries. But it's not only the taste; they have the same healing effect too."

"That's amazing!" Aamira said. The poison had eventually faded on its own and she felt increasingly stronger as she ate. "Thank you so much for this. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't fallen when you were flying around."

Tropius snaked her neck into the hollow of the tree. "Grab on and I'll lower you back to the ground."

Aamira grabbed onto Tropius's neck and she lowered her to the forest floor. It was a lot brighter in this area than the rest of the dungeon, even though daylight was still a while away.

Tropius was bigger than Aamira expected. About six and a half feet tall at the shoulder, but her neck was a lot longer. She must have been at least eleven feet tall in total.

"So do you know where the exit is?" Aamira asked.

Tropius nodded and angled her head towards the other end of the clearing. "You could just go out through there and—"

"Thank you so much!" Aamira said. She turned and ran towards the exit. She heard the flap of some wings and Tropius landed in front of her. Apparently it could use the leaves on its back to fly.

"Now hold on there!" Tropius said. "You can't leave just yet, you haven't met my children."

"You're children?" Aamira asked.

"Yes. They've just woken up, in fact." Tropius looked towards the trees. All around small green pokemon were appearing. Even though they were far away, it was easy to tell they weren't Tropius.

They all started to drop from the trees. Their bodies were made mostly of leaves and vines and their heads were like large fly traps with giant teeth.

"They're called Carnivine. Aren't they cute?" Tropius asked proudly.

Aamira looked around at them. They seemed more gross looking than cute, but not wanting to be rude, she agreed.

"I'm glad you think so." Tropius said happily. "So I was hoping that you could help me feed them."

"Feed them?" Aamira asked. "It's not like I can grow fruit around my neck or anything, but I guess I could go look for some food if you want."

The Carnivine were slowly making their way towards Aamira and Tropius. Tropius chuckled. "You don't know much about the pokemon around here, do you? If they ate fruit I wouldn't have any trouble feeding them. There's plenty of that around here."

"So… They eat…" Aamira looked again at their large fangs.

"One thing Blaziken is good for is providing them with a meal. I can't stand to see a pokemon suffering though, so I just had to treat your injuries for you. However, I can't let these little guys go hungry either. I hope you'll forgive me."

One of the Carnivine attacked her. Aamira barely managed to dodge it and counterattack with Aura Sphere.

"Now, now. None of that!" Tropius used Air Slash and knocked Aamira on her back in the center of the circle of Carnivine. "You're not being very grateful, you know. Come on, kids. Breakfast time!"

Aamira fought back and managed to knock out a couple of Carnivine and ran off in the other direction. She heard Tropius shout from behind her and launch herself into the air.

Aamira ran as fast as she could, barely paying attention to where she was going. She hit something and fell over. She looked up into the eyes of Blaziken.

"So, you survived after all." He noticed the bite marks on her arms. "Though it seems that you've met Tropius."

He looked up and saw Tropius flying towards them. The Carnivine had wrapped their vines around her neck before she took off so that they wouldn't have to struggle to keep up with them.

Aamira screamed as Blaziken suddenly picked her up by the neck and through her at them. The Carnivine jumped off of Tropius and hurled themselves towards Aamira with their mouths wide open. Right before they were able to clamp themselves onto Aamira, A burst of fire sent them all soaring in the opposite direction. Some fainted and laid on the ground covered in scorch marks, and those that hadn't taken the full attack went running off back towards their clearing.

Tropius landed in front of Aamira and growled at the two of them. "You two were working together from the start, weren't you? And you would dare to attack my children like this!"

"What? No!" Aamira, got up and backed away, but behind her was Blaziken, who was no doubt furious that she had somehow survived.

"She's telling the truth." Blaziken said. "She was my latest practice, but she managed to escape. Our deal was that I would give her a treasure if she managed to escape from here before I caught her." He turned to Aamira and said, "Truthfully I came here to challenge the only pokemon in this dungeon that I could never defeat, but I don't like leaving unfinished business behind."

"Back off, Blaziken!" Tropius shouted. "My poor little kids are still hungry and you normally burn off their favorite parts of the food."

"They'll survive. The point is that I was fighting Aamira before you even found her. After I'm done with her, we can have a battle and if you manage to defeat me then your kids can still get a meal."

"You think I'd agree to that? A fire type like you would be too spicy for them! You're constantly chasing pokemon into my territory, and I thank you for that, but I won't allow you to steal food from my children!"

"There won't be much you could do if I finish her off before you can."

Aamira couldn't believe there were pokemon like this that existed. While the two of them were arguing, she got up and tried to sneak away. Tropius's height advantage allowed her to notice immediately.

Tropius attacked with Air Slash and knocked Aamira back to the ground. Aamira tried to attack with Aura Sphere, but as she was knocked over by Tropius's attack, she accidentally fired it at Blaziken, who countered with Flamethrower, leaving her with a bad burn on her right arm. She tried to get up again, but pain shot through her arm and she collapsed back on the ground while Blaziken and Tropius continued their argument.

'There has to be something I can do…' Aamira thought. 'Otherwise I'm never getting out of here.' What was it that Wynaut said? "Defeat your enemies without defeating them! Just remember! They're a lot stronger than you!" Well what was that supposed to mean? She remembered her conversation with Ruko a while before that.

"They fight?"

"Well, not exactly. You'll find out what I mean soon enough."

So Wynaut and Wobbuffet didn't fight, so how did Wynaut knock out all of those Arbok in one attack? What was the Quickpaw technique? Why couldn't he just tell her? 'Defeat them without defeating them.' Aamira thought. 'They're a lot stronger than me? Why did Wynaut go through the trouble of reminding me what I already knew?' Aamira's heart nearly skipped a beat as she realized. 'The pokemon in the dungeon will attack nearly anyone they come across. I might not be strong enough to defeat them, but they can defeat each other.' She looked back and fourth between Tropius and Blaziken. She had read a lot of books, but unfortunately not many had pictures. She had trouble remembering, but she was sure that she read that Tropius was a flying and grass type, and Blaziken was a fire and fighting type. Since Tropius was a flying type, she had a type advantage over a fighting type like Blaziken. But since Blaziken was a fire type, he had a type advantage over a grass type like Tropius. If they fought and they were evenly matched…

'They would knock each other out!' she finally realized. 'I wouldn't have to do a thing except trick them into fighting each other!'

Aamira reached into her bag. Luckily for her, there was one Rawst berry left. She ate it to decrease the effect of the burn, being careful not to let either of them notice. Then, when the two of them were completely distracted by their argument, Aamira jumped up and ran towards Tropius as if about to attack. Startled by her sudden movement and speed, Tropius attacked with Air Slash. Aamira jumped into the air. Blaziken had let his guard down during their argument, so when the attack came towards him he wasn't expecting it. He put up his arms to try to block it. To Aamira's surprise, it hardly did any damage.

She jumped onto Tropius's neck, which was luckily now Carnivine free. Blaziken aimed his Flamethrower at her. His attack was faster than Aamira expected and she got out of its path with only a few furs on her feet being singed.

Tropius shouted and tried to blow the flames away from the gusts of air from her leaves. She was left with a slight burn, but quickly recovered.

Aamira had jumped behind Tropius and was running back towards the clearing. The Carnivine that were left behind there might be a bit of a problem, but she could deal with them the same way. She sped up as she heard Blaziken and Tropius following after her. She might just make it out of this mess, but just barely.

'There must be some sort of trick to this…' Quill thought. 'The point is so I could learn the difference between controlling fire and lava.' He stuck his paw in the lava and moved the thick liquid around as best as he could. He was aware of Entei's eyes on him the whole time. 'Neither fire or lava is constant. It can be hotter or cooler in certain areas. While lava can be thicker or thinner, fire could be more or less intense. What was it that Entei said? He said that some pokemon have internal body temperatures hotter than this.'

'It looks like he's finally starting to figure it out.' Entei stretched his front legs and got into a more comfortable position on the slab of lava. 'But will be he able to do this? If he's like his ancestors, then he might have a chance.'

"The way I swim through water…" Quill said out loud. Entei's ears perked up. "Before I could never do it because I would just sink, but I found out that I could make myself lighter by lighting the fire inside of me. Even though fire doesn't light underwater, it still let me control how much I can sink or float in the water. If that's true, then the same must be true for the lava."

"Now you've got it." Entei growled proudly. "But to control your movement in the lava. Do you know what that would take?"

"I would have to be flexible. Use a little heat in thinner areas, and more in thicker areas. In colder spots I would have to use hotter flames, and in the warmer spots they wouldn't need to be as hot. Controlling both the intensity and the temperature at one time can't be easy, but it should be easier now that I know what I'm doing."

Entei stood up and roared as if issuing a challenge. "Well, we'll see about that, won't we?"

Quill smirked and dove headlong into the lava. He tried to follow the method to the best of his abilities, but he was having a bit of trouble. It wasn't as if the lava's quality changed at a constant rate. And since it was moving it never stayed exactly the same. Quill had to react and think quickly. Once when the lava got really thin he reduced the intensity of his flame and immediately got stuck in a thicker patch just ahead. He swam back to the surface and jumped back onto the ground.

"Three feet." Entei said. "The farthest so far. You've gotten far enough on your own; would you like a hint?"

"A… hint…?" Quill was exhausted at this point and gasping for breath. It wasn't like he could exactly breathe under the lava.

"For most beginners it would take days to get where you are now, and usually a few more weeks until they're ready to give up and I tell them the secret." He said. "The secret is the stream of lava."

"Stream of lava?" Quill asked.

Entei nodded. "Diffusion causes substances in areas of high pressure to move to areas of lower pressure. Because of this, though it's slight and few other than fire types would ever be able to tell, the lava moves slightly on it's own from areas of thicker lava to areas of thinner, more liquid-like lava. It might be hard to tell at first, but if you learn to feel the lava stream, you'll be able to predict exactly how thick or thin the lava is up ahead."

"So does the same thing apply to the heat?" Quill asked.

'This is a sharp kid.' Entei couldn't help but smile. "Yes. Underneath the earth's crust are what are known as convection currents caused by the lava. Lava at the earth's core is warmer, so it rises to the surface. When at the surface, it becomes cooler and sinks back down to the earth's core. This movement of the currents causes entire land masses to move depending on the direction that the currents move. So, as you might have guessed, the lava stream is affected by both density and heat. As you said before, it would be difficult to control both the heat and intensity of your flames, but this is the key."

Quill nodded. "Okay! I'm ready to try again!"

Entei nodded in approval. Quill dove back in, but even though he was confident now that he knew the secret, it wouldn't make anything easier until he learned to feel the lava stream.

Aamira grabbed onto the neck of Tropius. Being a fighting type, it was an easy matter to throw Tropius in front of her to block Blaziken's Flamethrower. Tropius screamed and threw Aamira off of her back and used Magical Leaf simultaneously. Aamira was weak by this point. Even though she used less energy than she normally would have by actually fighting, she had still used a lot to insure that the two of them fought. If she got hit by this attack, it was over.

Without really thinking, she raised her hand and used Aura Sphere. The energy emanating from it was enough to push the leaves away and hit Tropius in the chest. The two of them fell to the ground at the same time. Aamira landed on her feet and Tropius was knocked out cold by the impact. Her carnivorous children who had been watching from the shadows all fled in fear.

Aamira was shaking from exhaustion. That last attack had taken a lot out of her. But Tropius was down at least. Before she could even think that now wasn't the time to relax, Blaziken attacked her from behind with a Blaze Kick right to the center of her back. Aamira skidded across the forest floor and stopped just feet away from the unconscious Tropius.

"So that was your plan." Blaziken limped over to her, holding an injured arm. "I have to admit, I didn't think that you would think of something like turning us against each other like that. If Tropius were fighting me in a one on one battle, I surely would have lost." He smirked. "I thank you for that, but it seems that while you were able to hold your own for quite some time, you still weren't strong enough. You lose."

"No, not yet…" Aamira wondered even as she struggled to her feet how Quill was doing in his own training, and if it was dangerous or exhausting enough to make him wonder and worry about what Aamira was doing. "I'm not done yet. I can still fight."

"You've got spunk, kid." Blaziken said in his usual flat tone. "You can't win. Stop denying the inevitable."

"Listen here." Aamira turned to Blaziken with a hand on one leg and her tail stretched out of balance herself. "I'm not going down again. I refuse to be knocked off of my feet by you again. I just won't allow it."

Blaziken sighed desperately. Perhaps he had spent too much time in this dungeon. There was definitely something about this Riolu that was different from other pokemon who wandered in here from the outside. "Why do you keep fighting?"

Aamira suddenly turned serious and sullen. "It seems like a long time ago now. Some time ago, I was in a situation where I was as good as dead. I can't explain all the details of what exactly had happened. While I was gone, a friend of mine was in pain the whole time. If I was able to feel that pain at the time, I would have been back at his side in a heartbeat. But how was I supposed to know? When I came back… I couldn't believe how happy he was to see me. And he wasn't the only one." Aamira couldn't help it. Thinking about that made tears start to form in her eyes. "I had, and still have, a lot of friends who cared about me. They were all so worried about me and were so sad when I was gone. Quill the most. I never want to leave him alone again. I don't care about some treasure. I don't care about surviving for my own sake. I just don't want to mess up and end up hurting him in the process. Mostly because lately it seems like all I've been doing is messing up and causing him a lot of pain by doing so. So I'm not going to lose this time! You won't knock me down so easily ever again!"

"My heart is breaking." That emotionless tone in his voice was almost enough to cause Aamira to go into a fury. "So this Quill you talk about so fondly is that dear a friend to you? If I were you, I'd spend each of my last moments here thinking of him."

"I told you! I'm not going to let you knock me down!" Aamira growled.

"Hmph." Blaziken stood upright. "You'll learn one of these days. Some things can't be prevented just by willpower."

A blue light formed around Blaziken and he ran at Aamira with breakneck speed. An attack like Brave Bird would surely knock her out in one hit.

'No! I won't lose here!' Aamira shouted in her mind, struggling to forcer her arms and legs to move. Acting purely on some instinct that she didn't know guided her, she jumped forward and punched at the air. A dark energy formed around her hand. It flew from her fist towards Blaziken. He saw it coming, but the power behind his attack was too great to allow him to stop in time. The dark energy collided with the energy from his own attack and knocked him backwards about fifty feet. Just as he fell, Aamira glimpsed something shiny and blue flying through the air…

Blaziken struggled to get back up. Something like this from a Riolu wasn't expected. The effect of Brave Bird hurt him enough on its own, but that attack redirected the rest of his power back at him. Even though he normally wasn't too badly injured by dark types, this was an exception.

When he finally got up, it was to see Aamira a few feet away, standing uneasily on her feet, and smiling.

"Why are you so happy? You haven't won yet." He got back into his battle stance, but Aamira just stood there smiling.

"Haven't I?" She raised her hand. On her wrist was a blue ring that shone dimly in the pale light.

Blaziken stared at it for a moment before looking at his claws where the ring had previously been.

"You told Tropius that the bet was that I would win if I got out of here before you could defeat me. But that wasn't entirely true. The bet was that I would win if I could escape the dungeon before you defeated me, or if I somehow managed to steal the ring from you. I'm guessing that much was meant as a test to check for what sort of personality I had. Braver pokemon would stay and fight while more timid pokemon would run as fast as they could for the exit. So what would you say I was?"

Something strange happened just then. Blaziken smiled an honest smile and even started to laugh a little. "You saw right through that, didn't you? Not many pokemon before you ever thought to build traps. Even when it seemed you would lose and at the time most pokemon had given up hope, you kept going because of that friend of yours. He must be something else."

"He really is." Aamira said. "He's training right now, just like I am. I'm sure he's gotten a lot stronger. Both of us have."

"So how would I describe your personality?" Blaziken asked. "You're strong willed, brave at heart, and you have this fire inside you. It's the sort of fire that creates the sparks controlled by most fire types. That fire was built from the bond between you and your friend. As promised, the Ravage Ring is yours. It's a special item for Riolu and Lucario that will heal you when hit by a psychic type attack, which would normally deal a lot of damage to you. Now then," he lifted his head and looked towards the exit, "I think I've spent enough time here."

The two of them walked outside. It was getting lighter, but it wasn't dawn just yet. As soon as he was out in the fresh air, Blaziken's legs gave out and he put a hand to his head.

'So he was being affected by the dungeon after all. If just slightly.' Aamira thought.

"Take a look at this." Blaziken said after his head finally cleared. He pulled an old rusty Aura Glass out from his Collection Bag. There were cracks running all along the glass and a large piece of it was missing from the center. "This was why the dungeon affected me, but only slightly. The Aura Glass normally protects Investigators from the dungeon's effects, but broken like this, it only worked slightly."

"Why are you showing me this?" Aamira asked.

"The one you carry with you now is no doubt shiny, maybe still with that luster that comes with a new rank. That Aura Glass you carry resembles your heart. It's pure and clear and you can see right through it. It's a strange thing that they would make something so important out of such a fragile material. It's a way of showing that no matter how strong an Investigator gets, they're still just like everyone else and can still be hurt just as easily." He held up his Aura Glass for emphasis. "This is what your heart could turn into."

Aamira looked at it with a strange fear that she couldn't explain. He had mentioned earlier a fire in her heart that was caused by her connection with Quill. "What exactly do you mean?" Aamira asked.

"Just…" Blaziken put the Aura Glass back in his bag and walked away. "Don't let anyone shatter it like they did mine."

Aamira watched as he walked off. She took the Aura Glass out of her bag and looked at it. "Someone broke it?" she asked herself. "Someone managed to break his heart." She suddenly pitied him, even though he had been trying to kill her the whole night. She couldn't bring herself to like him after something like that, but she couldn't help feeling sorry for him and wondering what had happened.

Wynaut led the way towards the end of the dungeon. Ruko was surprised to learn there was such a place on such a friendly island. Somehow, it had avoided his notice all this time.

Wynaut stopped suddenly as he noticed the little blue figure passed out on the ground. "Oh no!" he said. "She's hurt! We've got to do something! We've got to—"

Ruko took a few steps closer to her and chuckled at his discovery. "No, Wynaut, take another look."

He looked at him curiously and took a few steps towards Aamira. She was breathing regularly and snoring softly. "She's… Just asleep?"

Ruko burst into laughter. "She's a funny one for sure. Getting through a place like that and falling asleep immediately after. Though what would you expect? She did, after all, spend the entire night in there."

Wynaut sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Hey, why not? I guess she passes. Honestly I had my doubts. I wish I knew what went on in there though. She's covered in burns, but there haven't been any fire types in there for years."

"Oh?" Ruko said. "So by that you mean that at one point there were?"

Wynaut nodded. "It was a terrible incident. A team came by here a long time ago. Team Beak. They were an odd pair. They always acted like they hated each other in public, but I could tell that they were actually really good friends. They only acted that way because they were supposed to. They were a team created to form an alliance between Ignis and Aequor. Blaziken was from Ignis and his partner Empoleon was from Aequor."

"So what happened to the pair?" Ruko asked.

"It was terrible, but we were lucky to learn about what happened from the Chatot who lived there. They repeat everything they say and hear no matter what it is." Wynaut said. "They headed in there without Quickpaw, and of course it was impossible to make it through. When they finally got to the depths of the dungeon, they were attacked by Tropius, the dungeon boss. Blaziken was badly hurt by its flying type attacks. Tropius was going to feed Blaziken to the Carnivine who apparently still live there today. But Empoleon protected him. Empoleon died there, and they say that Blaziken's Aura glass was broken so he couldn't escape back to the dungeon entrance. He was stuck there until he could get by Tropius. But he never could. Overwhelmed by grief at the loss of his friend and unable to escape, Blaziken died down there as well. Ever since, relations with Ignis and Aequor have been worse than they were before that incident. But us Wynaut and Wobbuffet! We act happy for their sake! They were never allowed to act like best friends around other people, because Ignis and Aequor were enemies. So we're carrying on what they left off."

"I see." Ruko said sadly. "I've always wondered why the pokemon on this island were so lively. Would you happen to know why they were here in the first place?"

"They got a request once from a young Riolu around Aamira's age." Wynaut replied. "There was supposedly a treasure specifically for them hidden in this dungeon so they went in to get the treasure for him. Apparently they found it, but it disappeared with Blaziken, like the extinguishing of a flame. A few teams have gone in there since looking for it. Lots of them suffered terrible injuries and a few never came out, and the Ravage Ring stayed lost ever since."

"Until now?" Ruko pointed his cane to Aamira's hand where the Ravage Ring was wrapped around her wrist. 'Some strange things are happening around these two siblings. I know what waits in the future, but I can't help but be curious how things will unfold for these two.'


	34. Chapter 34 Return to Rainbow Island

Aamira was barely awake as she and Ruko flew across the ocean on Moltres's back. She was exhausted from the training. She kept slipping in and out of half sleep and consciousness. The rhythmic beating of Moltres's wings, the rush of the breeze around them as they sped along, the dim light of dawn, and the sound and smell of the salt water created a hypnotic sense that kept her in this weird balance. Ruko had been acting strangely ever since she woke up. Aamira had trouble remembering exactly what had happened before she fell asleep. Blaziken had said a lot of stuff, but the one thing she remembered him saying was, "just don't let them shatter it like mine," referring to a traumatic event that, as far as Aamira could interpret it, caused Blaziken's heart to break.

'I'm meeting up with Quill now.' Aamira reminded herself. 'I need to keep myself awake.' She thought for a minute then finally decided to tell Ruko what had happened in the dungeon. "When I was fighting Blaziken, I used a weird move. I had never seen it before."

"I expected you would figure it out." Ruko said. He sounded about as tired as she felt. Aamira didn't understand how Moltres could still be flying. "Quickpaw is the technique that turns an enemy's power against them. It's the technique that Wynaut and Wobbuffet are most known for. There are a few attacks that belong in the category of this technique, few of which are offensive. You knew one of the minor offensive attacks that fall into the Quickpaw category. Payback requires you to take damage, but afterwards you can inflict more damage on the enemy."

"I had another attack like that at one point too." Aamira said. "Reversal. It really came in handy with tougher opponents. Maybe I should have switched back to using it."

"Reversal is one of the attacks that falls into the Quickpaw category, but it requires you to take a lot of damage, like you did today. Now that you've learned this new move, you won't have to worry about it, because this move always strikes first. It's the move that 'Quickpaw' was named for and it's extremely rare for a Riolu to learn it. In this day it's almost unheard of, though it makes sense for you. It's a dark type move called Sucker Punch. As I said before, it's a move that will always strike first, but be warned; this attack draws on energy from both you and your opponent. If your opponent isn't using an offensive attack, which requires them to emit a certain amount of power, this move will fail and you'll end up wasting your own energy."

"So another dark type move…" Aamira looked down at her paws and looked over the Ravage Ring around her left wrist.

"Do you regret it?" Ruko said. "Dark or not, that move saved your life back there, based on what you told me. Unless you're willing to call yourself evil, there's no reason for you to hate darkness."

"Well what about Mismagius?" Aamira shouted. "She nearly ruined everything and that was because of darkness, wasn't it? And Hunter! What about him?"

"What about him?" Ruko asked with a slight anger in his voice that Aamira hadn't heard before. "Think about it. What do you really know about Hunter aside from the fact that he's from my time and he uses darkness?"

"Isn't it more like darkness uses him?" Aamira asked.

Ruko went quiet. "That much is true. He doesn't have much control over it anymore. It's my own fault though. He's not to blame, nor that power that protects him."

"Wait, your fault?" Aamira asked. "How so?"

Ruko sighed. "I convinced him to come here. There was an accident when time traveling. It wasn't the method used to go back in time; it was him. I can't explain exactly, but Hunter was never meant to leave our world. Because he did, it's almost as if that dark power is trying to drag him back and he has little to no control of it these days. Maybe you didn't notice, but not many pokemon carry a sword. It's because if he can prevent it he'd rather not use any attacks in case there's a rebound, which could leave him seriously injured."

"So why did you bring him here in the first place?" Aamira asked.

"Possibly because of a crime, possibly because of a misunderstanding." He said. "Whatever the cause, I've heard many stories about you from this time, so I wanted to let him see what you were like."

"What?" Aamira asked. "Why me? How am I related in any of this?"

Ruko was quiet for a minute. "Hopefully you'll never have to know, but I'm not entirely sure if changing history will be that easy."

He went silent, leaving Aamira to her thoughts. 'Hunter hates me for some reason. That's all I really know about him personally. I don't know anything about his friends or family in the future, or even what sort of world the future was. Or will be. I don't know what I could have done to make him so mad, but I would never do something to hurt someone intentionally unless defending myself.'

"By the way." Ruko said, interrupting her thoughts. "I'm sure you've guessed why we separated the two of you for your training. Though Aura Readers and Guardians were partners, the training for each was meant to be a secret. So, as much as you might want to, don't tell Quill anything about what you've learned last night. Entei will be telling him the same thing."

Aamira remained silent. She was still trying to think about what Ruko said before. He had defended Hunter. Ruko knew him better than she did, since whenever they were together it would just seem obvious how much Hunter hated her. But the last time they met when Quill and Aamira were trying to defend Moltres, he refused to attack her when he found out that she was unable to use any of her attacks. Maybe there was a nicer side to him. Such a thing seemed unheard of.

Moltres flapped vigorously as a sudden draft swept under her wings. The change in pressure caused her to fall slightly, but she seemed undeterred by something so minor. "I can feel it now. We're nearly there. It's been years."

"Don't be discouraged by what you see." Ruko said to her. "That jungle covered island on the horizon is definitely Rainbow Island where Ho-oh once lived atop Mount Prism."

"What happened to the mountains?" Moltres asked.

"A long time ago there was a fight between legendary pokemon and a mysterious pokemon from another world. You remember that much, don't you?" Ruko asked.

Moltres shut her eyes tightly, trying hard to remember. "Vaguely. My sisters and I sealed ourselves in our treasured spheres to prevent our memory from being erased. Luckily we didn't know the whole legend so that pokemon never came after us. Whatever happened here must have been after that."

"I see." Ruko said. "According to legend in the world where I come from, something happened to Ho-oh causing her to go insane. Her and Lugia were somehow forced to fight each other. Luckily the battle was out at sea. When you three sisters fought on the mainland an entire half of a mountain range was destroyed. The damage would have been much worse than that if Lugia and Ho-oh had been fighting there."

"So their battle destroyed the island." Moltres said. "Those two were partners. It's a shame they were reduced to that. Whoever it was manipulating Ho-oh must have been an evil hearted little creature. Possibly the same one who fought us before."

"I was thinking the same thing." Ruko said. "That pokemon was obviously strong enough to hold its own against a legendary pokemon, but I doubt it could have defeated two at once, especially Ho-oh or Lugia without making them fight each other."

"My master and Entei's master." Moltres smirked. "And here their servants only fight amongst themselves instead of with each other. I feel ashamed."

"Do you know anything about Rainbow Island?" Ruko asked Aamira.

"A little." Aamira said. "Celebi found a Rainbow Wing at the bottom of Lake Harmony when we were on vacation in Vine City. He teleported him back in time to that island. He said that the whole mountain was made of opal and shone like a rainbow in the sunlight."

"I heard about his adventure through time," Ruko said, "but I never heard any of the exact details."

After hundreds of years, a dense tropical jungle had covered the island. It was hard for Moltres to find a place to land. They eventually spotted Entei from the sky and Moltres landed with a flurry of wind, leaves and fire from her wings. Quill was there too. He looked strangely cute asleep and curled up, nestled in the fur on the back of the enormous legendary pokemon.

"He had a tough night." Entei explained. "You have no idea how exhausting it is for a fire type to use their fire for such a long time as he did."

"But he completed his training?" Ruko asked.

Entei nodded. "Yes. There's nothing left I can teach him. From this point forward he can only learn more on his own. I can do no more to help."

"The same is true with Aamira. Though she could still use more practice with the technique and that move she learned, there's not much else I can do." Ruko carefully stepped onto the ground as Moltres bent lower to help the old pokemon. He then assisted the exhausted Riolu in getting on the ground.

"I'll return at sunset, then?" Moltres asked.

"Yes, if you would be so kind." Ruko said.

Moltres raised her wings and sped off into the sky. With nothing left for him to do, Entei laid Quill on the ground and ran back to Ignis on top of the water. Aamira would have been impressed by this if she hadn't been half asleep.

Quill finally woke up and smiled when he saw Aamira. Apparently he had been worried about her just as much as she had worried about him. His smile faded as he noticed the cut on the edge of her tail that made the fur stand up strangely, and all of the other multiple injuries, including some bad burns on her arms and back. "And I thought I was having a hard time."

Aamira smiled. "It doesn't really hurt much anymore. I'll be okay. I would ask what you had to go through, since you don't seem to be hurt, but…" She glanced back at Ruko who was watching the two of them carefully, obviously making some sort of mental notes. Though she wasn't sure why, Aamira suddenly felt awkward talking to Quill after a day apart.

"I would let the two of you rest, but time is against us. As Moltres previously stated, you only have until this evening to finish your training here."

"So what is it we're supposed to do?" Aamira asked.

'Even after all of that, she's still ready to keep going?' Ruko thought. 'Normally I'd wonder where she got the energy if I didn't already know.' He cleared his throat and leaned against his cane. "We'll start with a bit of a history lesson, then move onto something more practical."

Aamira sat on the ground beside Quill and listened to Ruko's lecture.

"Your previous training was to strengthen your individual skills. This training is meant to be done together to sharpen your teamwork. However, I must make one thing very clear. During this training, you must never EVER fight between yourselves. If you do, you will never be friends again."

Quill and Aamira's eyes widened and they looked at each other and back to Ruko. It seemed impossible that they could ever be anything but friends.

"Now I'm going to explain to you an age old technique that could be used only by reader and guardian partners. You've previously been able to use this technique when Quill was able to sense Aamira's emotions and when the two of you were able to share thoughts for a brief moment in the sea temple."

"But wasn't that blocked when I got these scars?" Aamira asked as she raised her bandaged left arm. "How could that have happened in the sea temple when I have some sort of seal on me?"

"Seals are nothing rare. As you know, seals can be broken. You've done it a few times yourself. As I've stated previously, it's likely too strong to ever break, but it is possible to weaken it. You must have done it subconsciously when you were in the sea temple. If there's a way to weaken that seal, the two of you might be able to use this technique.

"This technique is called Resonation. Being able to sense a Riolu's emotions is nothing special, but the fact that you could when no one else was and that Aamira didn't know how to control her aura at the time proves that the two of you were close enough as partners already at that point to be able to use an earlier stage of the ability. Normally both of you would be able to sense each other's emotions, but it's normally more difficult for humans since they have a harder time tapping into their energy than pokemon."

"That's why pokemon can use attacks but humans can't right?" Quill asked.

Ruko nodded. "And that's why you could feel Aamira's emotions but she couldn't feel yours. It's true that Mismagius created a machine to be able to do something similar, but hopefully you've figured out by now that since it was destroyed before it could fulfill it's purpose that it had nothing to do with it."

"So Quill could feel my emotions because of Resonation and I apparently erased my own memory using Memory Obliteration. But I still don't get how I could have turned into a pokemon in the first place." Aamira said.

Ruko nodded and closed his eyes. He seemed about as tired as they did even though, as far as they knew, he didn't do much the previous night. "Truthfully, I don't understand it either. Aside from Mismagius's case with Ho-oh, who has the ability to reincarnate living things as pokemon, I've never heard of a human turning into a pokemon. Since Ho-oh disappeared along with Lugia in the middle of their battle, I doubt that she could have had anything to do with it."

Even though Aamira had learned to accept living as a pokemon a long time ago, that recent dream she had of the baby Riolu and its mother made her want to know even more about her life before.

"So how do I weaken the seal?" Aamira asked. "It didn't seem like I did anything special last time."

"I'm not sure if 'weaken' was the right word to use." Ruko said. "What you should try to do is find weaknesses that already exist within the seal. No seal is perfect, no matter who it was that created it. The trick is to find out what the weakness is. Normally it's certain emotional triggers that would make the seal seem weaker. These emotions would normally be the same emotions that the one who created the seal would normally feel."

"But we don't know who created it." Aamira said.

"Yes, and that's what today's training is about." Ruko said. "If the two of you can resonate your emotions, it's possible to get by the seal. Though your connection might not be as strong as it would normally be, it would help you nonetheless."

"So what exactly do we do to resonate our emotions?" Quill asked.

Ruko pointed into the jungle with his cane. "In the center of this jungle is an altar where Mount Prism used to stand. It was once hidden in the base of the mountain. Considering its size, it's amazing that it survived all of this time. So your task is to go to the center of the island where the altar is. At the altar is a treasure waiting for you to find it. Get the treasure and bring it back here and I'll assess your performance."

"Wait, how will you know how good we're doing?" Quill asked. "If Aamira didn't trust you so much I'd say you just wanted us to get the treasure for you…"

Ruko chuckled. "No, no, that's not the case. The answer of your question is up in the sky." The two of them looked confused for a moment, then looked up to see a red and blue pokemon circling above. "While the two of you were training yesterday, I headed back to Ignis for the night to enlist the help of these two. And a few more pokemon, though we'll get to that in a while. When the two of you head into the jungle, Latias will land back down here while Latios circles above and they'll use their sight sharing ability to show me what's happening. Sight sharing, by the way, is the highest form of resonation. I doubt that the two of you could get as high as even telepathy, as long as that seal exists."

"So what about other pokemon?" Aamira asked. It seemed like Ruko always had some sort of trick planned, so she didn't want to take any chances.

"Oh right. The other pokemon I enlisted last night." Ruko cleared his throat. "I've made this a lot more difficult than 'walk to the center of the island', of course. Throughout the island are pokemon who would either try to harm you or help you. The island itself is inhabited by dungeon pokemon, which won't make it that much easier for you."

"So how do we know if the pokemon are there to harm or help us?" Quill asked.

"You don't." Ruko said. "I should also add that the altar at the center of the island is being concealed. Finding it will be no easy task. Watch out for tricky pokemon who would try to turn you in the wrong direction. Watch out even more for pokemon who would try to turn you against each other. Which is why I must warn you again; you must never fight or you will never be friends again."

"So our time limit is sunset?" Aamira asked. "When do we start?"

Ruko looked slightly annoyed. "I hope you were paying attention. If so, you can start now. As you said, your time limit is sunset. I wish you both luck."

As the two of them headed into the jungle, a strange sense of nostalgia came to them. They weren't entirely sure why though. Quill had been here once, but it wasn't for a long time and the scenery looked nothing like what it did back then. Maybe they had already fallen into a trap of some sort.

"There's definitely something familiar about this…" Quill said.

"Hmm…" Aamira looked around at the trees. A Tailow passed by overhead. Even though it was still early, it seemed a bit eerie in the jungle, but maybe it was just because of Ruko's warning that some of the pokemon there would try to turn them against each other. "I can't figure it out." She finally admitted.

A few more Tailow followed the first. "They're migrating." Quill said. "They must be heading back north.

"Which means that way's north." Aamira pointed in the direction they were flying. "So we should be able to find the center of the island if we keep going northwest."

"I hope so." Quill said. "What if Ruko sent those Tailow to throw us off?"

"We'll have to use every clue we can find to point us in the right direction." Aamira said. "We shouldn't go any direction without finding more than one clue pointing us that way."

"But how else can you tell which way north is?" Quill asked. "The sun's too low to see above the trees… Oh wait! Moss! It grows most often on the north side of rocks and trees."

Aamira looked around at the trees. "Looks like it's all on the side of the trees facing the direction the Tailow flew." 

"Alright!" Quill said. "Now we know which way to go." He started walking ahead, but Aamira stayed where she was standing. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know…" Aamira said. "I just have this really eerie feeling. It just seems like a bad idea to go further into the forest."

"Well we don't have a choice, do we?" he asked. "Come on. I'm sure we can handle anything we find in here."

Aamira followed him hesitantly. It was a lot darker further in. Maybe she was still jumpy about everything that had happened in the Subterranean Forest. It was like she expected Blaziken to jump at them from nowhere. Or maybe for the Carnivine to start chasing her, waiting for her to tire out so they could have an early breakfast."

Quill noticed that Aamira wasn't really acting herself once they entered the forest. He was tempted to ask why that was, but he figured it would have something to do with her training and he didn't want to break the rule that Ruko set that neither of them could discuss their private training.

Quill jumped as something suddenly passed in front of his face.

"What is it?" Aamira asked, ready for a battle.

"I'm not sure…" Quill said. "I think I saw something, but maybe I didn't… But I was sure I did, but I might be wrong…"

"I don't sense anything…" Aamira said. "Maybe this forest is just getting to you. It seems strange somehow."

"Yea, like 'eerie'. Maybe this island is haunted…"

"There's no such thing as ghosts!" Aamira snapped at him.

"Why do you say that when you've seen a few yourself?"

Aamira took a deep breath to try to regain her composure. "I don't think I'm really seeing ghosts. It might be something like how you think you can see legendary pokemon sometimes. They're just lingering energy."

"But if that's true…" Quill said. "Why can't you see the legendary pokemon's energy too? And why can't I see the pokemon that you see?"

"I don't know…" Aamira said. "Maybe there's some sort of difference between them. But that doesn't matter. We'll end up arguing over something stupid like this if we don't stay on our guard."

Quill was getting a little mad. It seemed to him that his opinion didn't matter much to Aamira. It occurred to him for the first time that, for an Aura Reader, she was extremely close minded when it came to stuff like this. He knew ghosts existed. He didn't see what Aamira saw, but maybe that's why he believed in them. So why didn't Aamira, when she saw them with her own eyes?

They kept walking deeper into the forest. A few times Quill looked up and managed to catch a glimpse of Latios flying above them. He saw the same figure a couple of times, but never clearly enough to tell what it was.

"Hey, what's this?" Aamira stopped somewhere behind him.

Quill stopped and turned around to see Aamira picking up a bunch of leaves that he hadn't noticed anything special about.

"It's a Shiftree Fan. Like the one I found last night." She said.

"A what?" Quill asked.

"It's an item that can be used to blow away enemies. I guess they're more common in this region, so we haven't found any until now. An enemy found one yesterday and gave me a bit of trouble with it. It might be useful." Aamira put it into her bag and was about to continue walking when she noticed how Quill was staring past her with a horrified expression on his face. "What is it, Qu—."

She was interrupted mid-sentence by something cold and formless running up her spine. Her eyes widened and she started to shudder uncontrollably. Before collapsing, she managed to catch a glimpse of the Haunter that appeared behind her.

Quill's back flared up and he attacked it with a full powered Flamethrower. It attacked Quill with Shadow Ball, which he knocked back with a second Flamethrower. The flamethrower combined with the Shadow Ball made it even more powerful and, while Haunter was just barely able to dodge, it was enough to scare off the Haunter.

Aamira was kneeling on the ground, shaking fiercely and unable to move at all.

"It paralyzed you with Lick." Quill said while looking through his bag. "I guess there are ghosts here, just not the kind I thought." He looked through their bags for a Cheri Berry, but couldn't find one. It was strange too, since Aamira always kept quite a few in her bag. It figured that now that she needed one she would have run out and forgot to mention that to him.

Quill helped Aamira over to a tree that she could sit against. She was shaking so hard and could barely move at all on her own, making her an easy target for anymore enemies that came wandering through here.

"I'll go find a Cheri Berry." Quill said. "Just wait here."

Aamira managed to nod and Quill ran deeper into the forest. Aamira noticed something about how Quill fought that Haunter. It was how he attacked. He instinctively pushed its Shadow Ball back at it with his Flamethrower. The attacks combined and it caused damage equal to both of their attacks. He didn't even acknowledge what he had done. He did it so naturally and paid no attention to it at all. And yet didn't Aamira spend all of the previous night figuring that out while fighting enemies that were often several times stronger than her? The thought that something like that came so easily to him after what she had been through was honestly a little frustrating.

Quill came running back a few minutes later with a Cheri Berry. He had to help Aamira to eat it since she could barely move. The shuddering eventually stopped and it became easier to move as the Paralysis started to wear off.

"I read in a book once," Aamira said, "that Haunter can steal a person's aura by licking them. I never want to see another Haunter again… Luckily Gengar never tried to do the same thing before he evolved. We were still pretty weak when we first met him, I don't want to know what would have happened."

"It was pretty scary." Quill said. He turned away and waited for Aamira to recover completely from her Paralysis. "Though honestly, I find it hard to believe that you would be scared of such a weak pokemon." He said under his breath. But the weird thing is that while he was sort of thinking that, he hadn't meant to say it out loud.

"What?" Aamira snapped at him.

"I guess you're still scared after fighting Mismagius, that's all." Quill tried to stop himself from speaking, but he suddenly found that he had no control over anything he said or did. He turned back to Aamira with a slight smirk on his face. "It's understandable. You haven't been doing too well in fights lately. I guess you must be losing your touch after going through that. Luckily I'm here to help you, right?"

"What's this all of a sudden?" Aamira asked. "Scared of… Mismagius…?" She felt a little doubtful. That time when Mismagius had managed to capture them was terrifying for sure. Of course, the reason she was scared didn't have anything to do with Mismagius directly. Not that she wanted to explain that to him now.

"Oh so it is true." Quill said. "Truthfully, I didn't want to believe Machop when he started arguing about it with Nuzleaf, but the more I thought about it, the more it started to make sense."

"Now you're letting Machop put ideas into your head?" Aamira snapped at him. "And what about you? Remember what a coward you were when we first met? If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be in an Investigation Team! I know you're jealous that I was so good at investigating from the start, when I had no education and you spent most of your life in an academy."

"Not anymore I'm not!" Quill said. He had finally gotten control over his own voice again. "Why would I want to be jealous of you now? You get us into more trouble than you save us from lately! But I guess there's nothing else to be expected from a human stuck in a world she knows nothing about!"

The shocked feeling that Aamira got from this was indescribable. It was as if some sort of light had flickered on and off really fast behind her eyes, making her dizzy for a second. She was fighting back tears of anger. She didn't want to defend herself to Quill anymore and she had no response to what he said. She wished that she had been born in his world, but that's not how it happened.

Aamira stood up and walked away from Quill.

"Where do you think you're going?" Quill asked.

"To find the treasure on my own." She replied. "Obviously I don't need a pokemon's help. Maybe after this I'll just forget about Honchkrow and everything else and just concentrate on finding a way to get back with my own kind."

"You do that then!" Quill shouted after her as Aamira ran towards the center of the island. "I doubt a human could ever be as strong as someone born a pokemon, so good luck without me!"

Every ounce of jealousy seemed to emanate from Quill in that moment. He had never felt so mad before and had never imagined him saying such terrible things to anyone, especially not Aamira.

Quill fell to the ground and started crying. What was happening to him? He felt guilty, but too angry to admit it to himself and definitely not to Aamira. Aamira had only just left, but he was already regretting what he had done and gravely missed her company. Now he was alone in a forest he knew nothing about with dangerous pokemon lurking in every shadow.

'Aamira's going to find the treasure, so I might as well go too. Maybe then I'll be able to meet up with her again…'

He looked around confused. He thought for a second that Aamira had gone in the wrong direction, but had she? He had gotten so turned around while looking for a Cheri Berry that he couldn't tell which way to go now. It was around noon now, but the jungle was so overgrown that it seemed more like dusk. It was too dark even for the moss to grow, so he had no idea which way to go.

He started walking in the direction that Aamira had gone. Up ahead he noticed some strange pokemon floating through the trees. They were purple and shaped like balloons. Quill recognized them. They were Drifloon. They normally flew to the east where he lived during the fall. So this was where they came in the spring.

"Hey!" Quill called to them while chasing after them. "Hey, can you tell me which way's northwest?"

One of the Drifloon turned towards him and then the whole swarm suddenly vanished. Quill skidded to a stop and looked around. All around him were Drifloon, who would vanish as soon as Quill saw them. They looked so strange, the way the light filtering down through the tree leaves caught them right before vanishing. Whenever one would appear, it seemed like some sort of reverse spotlight with the shadow being cast by it. Among the Drifloon was a small dark purple pokemon that looked sort of like a puppet of some sort. It floated along with them, but never vanished like the Drifloon.

Quill stood there watching the Drifloon for a while. They were so carefree. They seemed so happy they way they floated through the air. Quill wondered if he and Aamira would ever be so at peace like this again. Like they were when they first became a team. 'I wonder if this is the real reason Aamira wants to fly.' Quill wondered. 'The air seems to sap away all of their worries.' Back when they had no worries. He realized why this seemed so familiar. "Hey, Aamira, do you remember?" He said, though Aamira was nowhere to be seen. "Back when we first started an Investigation Team we went on an investigation just like this as a test. We stumbled around so much. It seemed like the biggest challenge we would ever face, but it was just the start. It's nothing compared to this…"

The Drifloon slowly started to vanish and Quill went along on his way. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the other pokemon he didn't know the name of stare at him for a moment before vanishing with the Drifloon.

"Aren't you mad?" Quill stopped as he heard the voice from… somewhere. It almost seemed like it was coming from inside his head.

"Why should I be mad?" Quill asked.

"Aamira. The things she said to you. Coward. Weakling. Do you really believe her words?" The voice asked.

"No. Not at all." Quill said calmly.

"So why aren't you mad for her saying those things?"

Quill thought for a moment. It seemed strange that he had been fuming about it before, but now he was so calm. "There's no reason to be. Just being with her, I feel like I've become a lot braver and a lot stronger. I don't want to jeopardize the friendship of the team we've made."

"What do you honestly think about her though?" The voice asked. "The things you said back there were truthful, even if you didn't mean to say them. So what do you think about Aamira? It she braver than you? Or are you braver than her?"

"Neither!" Quill shouted. "She's been through a lot more than I have, that's all! I can't imagine what losing her memory was like. And I was mad enough to bring up the world that she wants so desperately to remember. I know at first I was jealous that she was so good at investigating, but I've gotten a lot better. We're both equal partners and if anything, I'm not jealous. I'm grateful that I haven't gone through a lot of the things she has. And at the same time I'm grateful that there were some things we had to get through together. Jealousy won't be what tears us apart. We're always there for each other. We're always making each other stronger. That's what's important."

"You're making each other stronger?"

"That's what I believe. And I think we can get through anything as long as we're together. No matter what the situation is. Maybe a human turned into a pokemon wouldn't normally be as strong as a pokemon, I don't know because I've never heard of anything like that happening before meeting her. If it is though, she's the exception."

"Because of you."

"And I'm a lot braver now."

"Because of her…"

The voice faded. Quill didn't know who it was that had been speaking to him, but he was sure now that if he ever had to work together with anyone, it had to be Aamira. The Riolu, once human, who had become so much like an older sister to him in the last year and a half. Had it really been that long? And yet here, the one time they couldn't argue, was the one time they chose to do so. Only one thing was going through Quill's mind: he had to find Aamira.

Finally, in a clearing up ahead, he saw Aamira. He ran towards her, not paying any attention to his surroundings. Aamira saw him and immediately shouted at him. "Stay back!"

Quill stopped suddenly. Was she still that mad? He continued walking towards her. "Listen, Aamira…" At that moment a strange smog wrapped itself around Quill. It smelled terrible and seemed to be leaching out the oxygen in his lungs. He put his paws to his throat and started coughing, desperate to get the poison out of his lungs. He tried to flare up, but the lack of oxygen kept him from calling on his fire for help.

He looked up and saw the eyes all dancing around him in the smog along with thin, fang-filled mouths smirking at him menacingly. "Ghastly." He managed to cough before nearly fainting from the poisonous gases.

Aamira suddenly remembered the fan she had picked up earlier. She grabbed it from her bag and with one sweep of it, the ghastly were blown away along with every particle of the poisonous gas.

Quill collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath and struggling against the poison.

"Hang on!" Aamira called to him. She rummaged around in her bag before finding the last Pecha Berry. She ran over to him and handed him the berry. Quill ate it and the poison gradually faded away, though it left Quill extremely weak and he still felt sick to his stomach. "I tried to warn you."

"Aamira… I'm sorry." He managed to say.

"You're about to faint from poison and you're going to say something like that to waste your energy. Forget it! We were both getting pretty worked up back there about nothing."

Quill coughed again and the last of the smog was forced out of his lungs. "What made you think that?"

Aamira was quiet for a while. "When you brought up Mismagius… I really was scared back then."

"I know. That's when I could still feel your emotions, remember?" Quill said weakly.

"True, but you didn't know exactly why I was scared." She said.

Quill looked up at her with a confused expression. Aamira sat on the ground next to him and looked up at the trees. "She wanted to use my Aura Reading ability to find out how to get to Desolo, didn't she? Why would I have done anything like that? Knowing something of what she wanted to do, why would I want to help her?"

"But you didn't. You only agreed because she…" Quill fell silent. Now he remembered.

"I was scared… because she threatened to hurt you. And I felt terrible for being the reason you were caught up in all of that in the first place." She turned away from him. Quill felt that it was to hide the tears that she must have been fighting back. "You're my friend. I still feel bad for getting you involved with all of that."

She really did feel guilty about the things she had said earlier. A thought occurred to Quill. She could have easily told him that before to make him feel guilty. But she had avoided it and mentioned only things that seemed so minor now. Maybe it was out of anger, but maybe it was partially because she didn't want him to know. Maybe she didn't want him to feel responsible for that. Aamira was having similar thoughts and suddenly they felt closer than ever before.

"Did you see the Drifloon?" Aamira asked.

Quill nodded. He was starting to feel a little better now.

"What do you say that… once we get back to Ignis we spend some time training with the others. Just like we used to."

Quill smiled. "That sounds fun."

"Training last night was terrible." Aamira said. "I had to use nearly all of the berries I had with me. That Pecha Berry was the last one I managed to hold onto. In the forest I was in all of the pokemon were a lot stronger than me. A lot of them attacked with moves that caused poisoning and paralysis and things along those lines. Turns out, it's a lot easier to defeat them by turning their power against them. Like you did with the Haunter earlier. Although there was this one enemy who was making it a lot more difficult than it needed to be. In the end he ended up giving me the Ravage Ring. And I later found out from Ruko that he supposedly died years before. So I guess… maybe… he might have been a ghost. Though I can't say for sure…"

Quill smirked. Well, as long as they were sharing. "Have you ever tried to swim under lava? Nearly impossible. I can control fire, but lava is a different thing. Entei gave a hint that the variance in the lava is what was making it so hard and to get through the lava I had to predict what the lava would be like up ahead and adjust my power accordingly. There was actually a current in the lava though that Entei called the lava stream. Using it, it was easier to judge the condition of the lava ahead. Or at least that's what he told me. I figured out that feeling the lava before I was in it was impossible. I only learned to feel the lava stream that I was in currently. The secret was to change the lava stream completely. I didn't have to predict what was up ahead because I already knew after changing it. As it turns out, it's the same thing you do all the time to create an Aura Sphere."

"We might have known all of this already." Aamira thought. "Things would have been so much easier if we just paid more attention to each other."

"I guess after a while we just let our jealousy get the best of us." Quill said. "You're a pokemon now, so where you come from doesn't matter to me. I can see how it could matter to you, but you live here now."

"And you're a great investigator now." Aamira said. "I think you always were. The only reason I ever knew what I was doing half of the time was because you always knew what to do and I just followed suit."

"Unless we want to go find Celebi again, maybe we should just stop thinking so much about the past." Quill said. "Maybe there are times when it's better just to forget."

"No, never that." Aamira said. "Just not linger on it. Let time flow the way it was meant to." Quill nodded. "Are you ready to get going now?"

Quill stood up and they started walking towards the center of the island. Something had crossed both of their minds a while ago. Maybe they still couldn't feel each other's emotions, but there was also the possibility that they were having the same emotions. Now they realized what Ruko meant by resonating.

As they walked, something came into view. It was an altar of some sort. On top were two statues of Ho-oh and Lugia facing towards each other. At the base of their feet was a small treasure chest. They opened it and found a small jewel-like object inside.

"What is it?" Aamira asked.

"I don't know." Quill held it up above his head. "It sparkles a little in the light. It's kinda pretty, I guess."

"That's the Amber Tear." They turned to see Ruko coming out of the forest with Latias and Latios following him. "It was said that in their battle, something had happened to Ho-oh to cause her to even attack her friend, Lugia. Just as their battle was coming to a close, Ho-oh shed a single tear filled with her regret for the fight. That tear became the Amber Tear, one of the greatest signs of friendship that exists in this or any other world."

"And we get to keep it?" Quill asked.

Ruko nodded. "Yes, keep it. You two have earned it. Even with a few pokemon working from the shadows, the two of you managed to hold your friendship together."

"I didn't doubt you for a second!" Latias said cheerfully. "Latios, on the other hand."

"I-I didn't doubt them either! I don't know what you're talking about!" He snapped at her.

"Now don't you two start fighting." Aamira said to the two of them. The two of them seemed a little embarrassed.

"A Medicham I know happens to be extremely skilled at the move Mind Reader. She also happens to be able to speak telepathically." Ruko said. "I had her hide in the forest along with Grumpig. She read Quill's mind and transmitted those thoughts to Grumpig, who was able to control Quill's words and actions temporarily with a dance."

"So that's why I started saying those things, even though I didn't want to. It was because of Medicham and Grumpig." Quill said. "And that voice I heard later must have been Medicham's telepathy."

"Exactly." Ruko said.

"But why Quill?" Aamira said. "Why didn't they do it to me instead of him?"

"You have a dark aura." Ruko said. "Psychic types are weak against dark types. While their attacks can still hit you, mental manipulation is out of the question."

"Really?" Aamira said. "Well that's kind of cool, I guess."

"I thought you didn't like dark." Ruko said slyly.

"I don't!" Aamira snapped at him. "But… I guess it can be useful for something at least…"

"I also had a Shuppet hidden among the Drifloon. It has the ability to eat negative emotions like envy. However, this isn't the same as psychic manipulation. It can only eat emotions that the owner of those emotions wanted to get rid of in the first place."

"I saw it." Quill said. "So that was Shuppet. We decided to get along on our own, but he still made it easier."

"She." Ruko corrected him "And she seemed to have grown attached to you while following you around and wants to join your team, if you'll allow it."

"Why not?" Aamira asked.

"The sun is starting to set." Latios reminded Ruko.

"Ah, yes." He pulled out an Escape Orb from the small bag around his neck. "This adventure is over with, for now. It's time to head back to Ignis.

As it turns out, Aamira and Quill were supposed to share their training from the start, in spite of Ruko's instructions. Apparently this was a method used to train Aura Readers and Aura Guardians a long time ago. Ruko complimented them by saying that they did just as well as any of the pokemon from back then had done. From now on they only had to practice resonating and soon they would both be able to feel each other's emotions.

By the time they got back to Ignis, it was already night. Moltres flew towards the stadium at the back of the island. Ruko noticed Ninetales pacing back and fourth nervously and asked Moltres to land there.

Moltres flew off as soon as the three of them got their feet on the ground, leaving them to face the frantic Ninetales.

"What's wrong?" Aamira asked her.

"I've been looking everywhere for you two! Charmeleon asked me to find you."

"What? Why?" Quill asked.

"The match to find another contestant for the tournament started a few hours ago. When Charmeleon said that 'anyone' could enter, apparently he was taken too literally and there was nothing anyone could do about it."

"What do you mean?" Aamira asked. "What happened?"

"It's… you'll never believe who entered the match. Just follow me." Ninetales ran towards the stadium and the three of them followed. As soon as they got close to one of the entrances, they realized what she had meant. Fighting in what seemed to be the finals of the match was Hunter.

"He's here?" Quill asked. "Isn't he a wanted outlaw now?"

"Yes, but as I've said before since Charmeleon said that anyone could enter and he's in charge of the tournament, he had no choice but to let him enter." Ninetales said. "Maybe the police could catch him afterwards, but that's only if he doesn't escape."

"Weapons are banned in these tournaments, aren't they?" Ruko seemed about as surprised by this news as Quill and Aamira. And he was right. He wasn't using his sword. Aamira remembered what Ruko had said about Hunter's power rebounding, so why would he risk that to enter the tournament?

The answer became clear the second he lifted his opponent, the biggest Onyx that Quill and Aamira had ever seen, and threw him clear across the stadium, knocking him out instantly. He had fought, and won, the whole match by using only basic martial arts moves.

A disturbing feeling came across Aamira, which Quill could now just vaguely sense. A single thought entered her mind: What is he?


	35. Chapter 35 Ninetales' Diary

Everyone was trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Hunter suddenly appearing out of the blue and asking to join the tournament wasn't like him at all. He normally preferred to sneak around and track down any legendary pokemon that he heard rumors of. His main interest was battling legendary pokemon, so why was he wasting his time with a tournament like this?

No one could figure it out. A lot of people were upset that Charmeleon let him enter the tournament, but since he didn't specify any conditions to enter the tournament he didn't really have a choice. They were the rules and he had been the one who made them, so he had to go along with it. Even more infuriating than that was that Hunter didn't even choose to represent a country, like every other competitor was doing. Charmeleon had left that as an option, but no one thought that anyone who won a spot in the tournament would actually go against tradition. Of course, some people in Ignis were glad about this, seeing as how if he did decide to represent a country it would have most likely been Aequor, who couldn't compete this year. Ignis and Aequor had always been enemies. Apparently they didn't have much confidence that anyone could beat Hunter.

"Is this some sort of trap?" Quill asked.

"I don't know." Aamira said. "He might be doing this to get closer to us. Or to someone else."

"What do you two think you're doing?" Ninetales came up behind them out of nowhere. The two of them had just been enjoying the festival like Charmeleon had told them to, but this whole situation with Hunter was really frustrating Ninetales. At least, that's what they thought.

"The match doesn't start until tonight, right?" Aamira asked. "So why can't we enjoy the festival?"

"Charmeleon made Typhlosion the commissioner for the tournament. He hadn't imagined it would be so difficult organizing this whole event. There aren't any challenges this year that come before the tournament. Therefore to make the matches more… interesting, Typhlosion thought it would be a good idea for all of the contestants to get to know each other before hand."

"Will Hunter be there?" Aamira asked.

"I don't know. He might show up, he might not. It doesn't really matter since he gets to completely bypass the first round."

"But we still have some last minute training to do!" Quill said. "We can't let people we're going to fight against see us training, so when are we going to do it?"

"If you're not ready by now, you have no reason to be entering a tournament." Ninetales snapped at him. She had always been pretty nice before, but something was definitely irritating her, and it seemed too big to be about hunter. Last night she seemed frantic at the sight of Hunter, but this time around seemed a lot worse.

The two of them followed her to the stadium. They went up a flight of stairs that was behind a door in the back of the stadium. They couldn't tell where they were going, but it was most likely really high up, maybe even the seats at the very top of the stadium. They were half right. They went through a door at the top of the stairs and entered a box that seemed like it would be reserved for someone really famous who came to watch the tournament. Waiting up there were a bunch of really tough looking pokemon who Aamira and Quill took to be the other contestants. They were all talking with each other happily and hardly anyone paid any notice when they walked in. The only ones that seemed to be missing where Roy, Sandshrew, and Hunter. Aside from Typhlosion, there was one other pokemon there who they recognized.

"Hey, Dragonair!" Quill said. "You're competing too?"

Dragonair nodded. "Flygon's become much more agreeable since you all showed up. He decided to give me some vacation time to come see the spring festival and I decided to enter the tournament while I was here, since he hadn't sent anyone else to compete."

"Why hasn't he sent anyone?" Aamira asked.

"Too busy building flood gates." Dragonair said. "This is the time of year when the weather in the mountains gets warmer and the snow starts to melt. We have many lakes and ponds in our mountain and they all start to overflow once the snow melts. Normally I slow it down by gradually decreasing the temperature and helping to evaporate the extra water using Sunny Day, which carries the water to Sylva to help all of the plants and trees."

"So what will happen to Sylva if you can't evaporate the water?" Quill asked.

"We found a replacement from Sylva." Dragonair said. "She really loves the plants there and was only too happy to help with her Sunny Day. If I remember correctly, her name was Roserade. She said she met you once before."

"Ninetales, could you find Roy and Sandshrew anywhere?" Typhlosion asked.

"Yes, but…" Ninetales had an awkward expression. "They were arguing when I found them. Apparently when Roy found out that a Skarmory and Luxray were competing, he didn't want Sandshrew to enter. Being blind, with their eyesight he would be at a bit of a disadvantage."

"Well it's not as if he's really blind." Typhlosion said. "His hearing and other senses are a lot more developed than most pokemon. It's almost as if he can see."

"I know, but Roy's his older brother. He's still worried. Luxray can see through solid objects, which would pretty much make his Dig useless. Most of his strongest attacks won't work on Skarmory. His favorite was Sand Attack that he used to lower pokemon's accuracy, that way he could win even if they were stronger than him, but with Skarmory's Keen Eye ability…"

"Yes, I see…" Typhlosion said. "But I've already mapped out the matchups. If he drops out, I'll have to refigure the whole tournament, which won't be easy."

At that exact moment, Team Sandstone walked in. Sandshrew looked a lot like Aamira after she lost her temper and Roy seemed to be feeling a mixture of confusion and worry.

"It has nothing to do with your eyes." Roy said. "I'm just saying that they'll be bad match ups, that's all."

"But I've been practicing a lot!" Sandshrew shouted. "It's not fair that you get to decide that I can't enter just because their eyes are better than mine!"

Roy sighed. "I'm just worried about you, that's all."

"Now that everyone, minus Hunter, is here, I'll unveil the matchups, shall I?" Typhlosion said.

He walked to the far end of the room and lifted up a screen. Behind it was a board that looked almost like the same type their map was on. There was one matchup that Typhlosion obviously knew would cause some tension. The very first match. Sandshrew versus Skarmory.

"You're shaking." Sandshrew said to Roy. "Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?"

"You're going up against Skarmory first." Roy said.

"He can't drop out now." Typhlosion said. "If you had any concerns, you should have spoken to me beforehand. It's too late to reconfigure the match ups."

"Well who are you going up against?" Sandshrew asked Roy.

Aamira saw it before Roy did. He had been too concerned about his brother's matchup that he hadn't even noticed his own yet. He would be fighting Aamira in the last battle of the first round.

"Aamira." He said.

"Then switch with me!" Sandshrew said. "If you don't want me fighting Skarmory, I'll just fight Aamira!"

"Are you crazy?" Roy asked. "If anything, she'll be a tougher opponent for you."

"Fine by me!" Sandshrew shouted. "I wanted to enter this tournament to fight her anyway!"

'To fight me?' Aamira thought. 'I had no idea…' She thought about this and looked at the board again. "I wouldn't mind fighting Sandshrew. Is it okay for Roy and Sandshrew to switch opponents?"

Roy looked like he was about to object, but then something seemed to come to mind and he stopped.

Typhlosion looked between the competitors and the board.

"I've been wanting to fight a Riolu." Skarmory said. "Truthfully my first choice would have been Aamira, but Roy's a close second, so I wouldn't mind either.

Typhlosion sighed. "Very well. But I'm not doing any more swaps." He touched the places on the board where Sandshrew's and Roy's names were and they almost magically changed spots. "The first match will begin tonight at dusk. Study the matchups and get to know each other before then. I'll come and call you down to the front row of the stadium before the first match starts, which will now be Roy versus Skarmory."

Typhlosion left them all to go attend other things. Aamira took a better look at the matchups. The first match, as he said, would be Roy versus Skarmory. After that would be Quill versus Luxray. Aamira looked around and found the pokemon she thought best matched the name. 'Great, Quill's up against a cat pokemon. He doesn't like cats too much…' After that was Dragonair versus Ninetales. No doubt that would be a good battle. As she suspected, when Aamira looked over at Dragonair, she seemed to be calculating some sort of strategy. She was just as smart as her older brother. The second to last match was Togekiss versus Mamoswine. Mamoswine was a pretty big pokemon, and being an ice type it had a huge advantage. No doubt everyone was thinking that their match would be decided quickly. And finally, Aamira versus Sandshrew. Aamira didn't know what to think. Sandshrew wanted to fight her pretty badly, because they were rival teams, she assumed, and she didn't really know much about his power level. For all she knew, he could be easy to defeat or even capable of defeating her. She was completely in the dark.

After looking over the matchups, everyone started talking with their opponents. Sandshrew didn't seem to be in the mood to talk, so Aamira just stood by and listened to everyone else's conversations and even joined in every once in a while. Togekiss was a really sweet pokemon, she found out. She felt calmer just being near her. Mamoswine looked intimidating, but he was really more of a gentle giant.

Quill was a little nervous around Luxray at first. Fire and Electric type pokemon never really got along well, so a lot of pokemon would no doubt be looking forward to their match. As expected, Luxray was itching to battle, but he seemed a lot calmer than most pokemon from Tempestas.

"It's because the storms are over." Luxray said. "We calm right down once we let loose all of that build up electricity. This year was my best year yet. Thirty five straight wins and three losses."

In spite of his impressive amount of wins in one of the notorious war countries, he seemed much more agreeable to Quill than Pikachu had when they first met him. He left himself getting pumped up for their battle as well.

Skarmory, surprisingly enough, was a huge pokeringer fan. Apparently she was the leader of a pretty famous team and everyone was flocking around to get an autograph.

"I just love the adrenaline!" She said. "No pokemon can outmatch my speed and strength in the air! At least that's what I like to think. Those new bug and dragon type teams that showed up sure were surprising. I couldn't believe we got knocked out of the tournament before the semifinals this year. Next year for sure we'll take home the prize!"

"And what are you going to do after you win your next tournament, Miss Skarmory?" Togekiss asked. Being a flying type, she was much more interested in the sport than anyone else there.

"I plan on retiring for good." Skarmory said. "My steel is still shiny, but I'm getting a bit old. That was proven to me last year. It's about time I hang up my wings, so to speak. I might even retire if I manage to win this tournament. I just want one more big win to seal the deal."

Only one other pokemon wasn't speaking aside from Sandshrew. That was Ninetales. Aamira could tell that something was bothering her the way she spent all of the time looking out the window instead of getting to know her opponent better.

"What's up?" Aamira asked.

"Do you think that history repeats itself?" Ninetales asked.

Aamira hadn't been expecting a question like this. "I guess it could. Why?"

"Apparently ever since the great war, there have been strange incidences. Almost each one of them had a Honchkrow lurking around behind the scenes."

"A Honchkrow?" Aamira asked. "Wait, how could you know something like that?"

Ninetales pulled out a book from inside of her Collection Bag. "I'm not sure if you remember this from the last tournament. It's my great, great grandmother's diary. People say that Ninetales could live for a thousand years. Technically, that's only an average. She lived longer. A lot longer. My great grandmother, grandmother, and mother all died before she did, so when she died, she left me her diary."

"So she lived through a lot of those things?" Aamira asked.

"Yes. Only as an observer. She never got involved in any of the events that played out. Though she did spark a certain legend. Apparently you should always listen to Ninetales, because when they show up it's for an important reason. She was there to record a certain legend that I hear you're looking to find."

"She was!" Aamira asked.

Ninetales nodded. "Unfortunately, this diary is old. There was a large span of time when things were completely calm and nothing was written in it. The pages are dusty and some are torn in places and the ink in earlier parts of the book is so faded it's almost impossible to read. It's also written in a language that isn't commonly spoken anymore. She taught me a bit of it, but it's still difficult to translate her diary."

"What do you know so far?" Aamira asked.

"It does seem to concern you, but I'm not sure how. It keeps mentioning something about memory and a legend, which I think must have to do with the legend you were involved with when you had to defeat Mismagius. It talks about three heroes, but it doesn't mention exactly who they are. I'm guessing that two of them would be you and Quill, but Lucario's gone, so I doubt it would be him."

"Is there anything else though?" Aamira asked. "Anything that might prove there's something in history that's repeating?"

Ninetales looked around then motioned for Aamira to follow her outside when no one was looking. Aamira followed her and they hid in a different box a few hundred yards away from the one everyone else was staying in.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Ninetales asked while making sure the glass window was secured. "Glass isn't exactly a new invention, but to make it, Ignis has to order sand from a country across the sea and Aequor delivers it to us. Even though Aequor and Ignis don't really get along, we depend on each other to make a profit from glassware."

"That really is something." Aamira said. "And I'm guessing the interlocking economy is one of the few things keeping the countries from warring with each other."

Ninetales nodded. "Now back to this book, apparently it always revolves around Aura Readers and Aura Guardians."

"Wait, how do you know about Aura Guardians?" Aamira asked.

"Ruko told me not to tell you, but I think this is more important. He never mentioned that Quill was an Aura Guardian, but being a member of a famous Investigation Team, I managed to figure it out. I haven't told anyone else, so don't worry."

Ninetales opened the book to one of the first pages. "The three stories that seem to be the most important all revolve around Aura Readers and Guardians. Apparently a long time ago, legendary pokemon were just as common as any others. But something happened that caused them to nearly die out. Humans saw this and started to wage war against pokemon, thinking they must somehow be better than them, since they weren't dying out at all. Things were looking bad for pokemon everywhere when a new pokemon they had never seen before showed up. That pokemon was Mew."

"Mew was there?" Aamira asked. "It's too bad he died some time ago or we could just go to Desolo and ask him what was going on."

"Apparently this war was actually around the time when he died. He showed up and astounded all of the other legendary pokemon with his ability to transform. The legendary pokemon decided to use his DNA mixed with human DNA to create a new pokemon that would protect the peace between pokemon and humans. They didn't want to make a pokemon that was too strong, so a few of the legendary pokemon added some of their own power to both suppress Mew's power and give the new pokemon a small amount of theirs. That new pokemon that was born was Eevee.

"This was a time before evolution, when pokemon could transform freely between any of their evolved or pre-evolved forms. Eevee had the ability to transform into any form depending on the environment. The forms known at that time were grass, ice, fire, water, and electric. Espeon and Umbreon hadn't come to exist just yet. Mew taught her to control her abilities for a time, and then decided to find her a new mentor. A Houndoom. Houndoom was like a father to her, so Eevee never imagined that he was actually working for an evil human king who was trying to take over their world. Apparently at this point, he had already managed to take over Atra and was trying to take over Desolo, which was why Mew was put in charge.

"Lugia and Ho-oh were his biggest concerns. Nothing seemed to be able to defeat their duo. While fighting them, he managed to kill Mew and create a clone who was, like Eevee, a mix between Mew and a human's DNA but without the Legendary pokemon's power to control his. His psychic powers were said to be much stronger than mews. This was, of course. Mewtwo. He hadn't suspected Mewtwo to betray him though. So he managed to take over Atra and protect it from the humans. At that point the human king was attacked by Lugia and Ho-oh and fell into the sea. He created a city under the water, which is now Aequor. He hid there for a long time until his Houndoom, who had been lost in the battle returned with something in his mouth. It was one of Lugia's feathers.

"The creature he created from the feather was like Lugia, but with an evil heart. He had trained him for some time to destroy Lugia and Ho-oh. When he sent Lugia's clone to battle them, he was caught up in a storm and wound up unconscious on the beach with amnesia. By that time, Eevee had found a human partner who she really trusted. The two of them went everywhere together. They happened upon the Lugia clone and named him Shadow based on the dark color of his feathers.

"Some time after was the first report of a human turning into a pokemon. While raising Shadow, Eevee's human friend had fallen in love with her and gave his soul to Houndoom so that he could be turned into a pokemon. He lost his mind though and attacked her as soon as the transformation into the first Umbreon was complete. Eevee learned how to use the power of light to balance his dark powers and became the first Espeon. At the end of their battle, both were exhausted, but Umbreon was brought back to his senses and Espeon used her amazing power to turn him back into human and swore to do the same to herself once her battle was over. She was one of the few who still believed that the human's king was still alive. The only others being Umbreon, Lugia, and Ho-oh.

"It would be sometime later when Shadow was fully grown that he was reunited with the human that created him. When that human tried to control Shadow, Shadow fought back and killed the human. He then went on an uncontrollable rampage. Lugia and Ho-oh didn't realize that what he needed most at that time was Espeon. They attacked him and regretted it immediately. Shadow became even more enraged. The only one who could stop him at this point was Espeon. She would have to fight her own son."

"That's terrible!" Aamira said.

Ninetales nodded. "At the end of their battle, they supposedly used so much power that it ended in a draw and both were turned to stone. Their statues are said to still be hidden somewhere. Apparently if you look closely at their eyes you can see that both of them were crying as they died."

"So what does this have to do with Aura Readers and Guardians?" Aamira asked.

"It has nothing to do with Aura Readers. However, it's reported that Espeon was in fact the very first Aura Guardian. After her death, an egg was found in the temple where she was created. The egg hatched into an Eevee who was also an Aura Guardian. His mother being an Espeon, this would make Quill a direct descendant of the first Aura Guardian."

"So is there another story about the first Aura Reader?" Aamira asked.

"Yes. This one came sometime later. Houndoom apparently survived and had teamed up with a Honchkrow, though Honchkrow scarcely appears in the story. It was said that the two of them wanted some sort of power that could be granted by Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit, so they manipulated the three of them into fighting. Their battle did manage to create a new power, but they weren't able to get a hold of it. Right where their powers collided, a new pokemon suddenly formed. While their powers do make it possible for life to exist, they never expected something like that to happen. That pokemon was the first Riolu."

"First Riolu!" Aamira said. "Uxie mentioned something about the first Riolu! But he was completely out of his mind at the time and couldn't really tell us anything else."

"This Riolu was nothing like Eevee. When she was created, she was just like a baby pokemon. It was said that because of Uxie's power over knowledge this Riolu was just as intelligent as any adult pokemon. He even knew his own name and that the three of them had created them. He even scolded them for fighting like that in the first place."

Aamira couldn't help laughing. She didn't know this Riolu, but it sounded like someone she would like.

"As you might have guessed, this Riolu was the first Aura Reader. He spent most of his life as a scholar and an explorer, traveling the world learning whatever he could. Even secrets that were said to hurt him severely until the day he died.

"Houndoom had attempted to steal his power shortly after he evolved into Lucario in order to use an ability you know now as Aura Release in order to resurrect Shadow Lugia. Their battles never seemed to end. They were a perfect match for one another. Since Houndoom was a dark type, he was weak against Lucario as a fighting type, but since Lucario was a steel type, he was weak against Houndoom as a fire type. Their battles came down to sheer power. In the end, apparently Houndoom's Honchkrow partner led Lucario into a trap and Houndoom was able to steal his power. By this time, Lucario was old and had already had several children, so luckily his Aura Reader abilities weren't lost.

"Lucario died that day and Houndoom managed to resurrect Shadow Lugia, but apparently Espeon had placed a curse on him that would only allow him to use attacks when commanded to do so by a human partner. Shadow hated humans, so this greatly weakened him. And he couldn't become partners with just anyone. It had to be someone of the same bloodline as the human that Espeon had fallen in love with. She was sure that he wouldn't have any descendents, but she hadn't taken into account that he had a twin brother. They had been separated at birth so neither of them ever knew the other existed. I can't imagine what my grandmother had to go through to figure that out. Anyway, it was his twin's descendent that would become Shadow Lugia's partner.

"He waited until he found that human and stole her memory so that she would be easy to manipulate, but she managed to escape. That human ended up partners with a different pokemon. Ironically, an Eevee. Neither of them had any idea where either of them had come from, so they set out to find their past together. It also happens that the human was an Aura Guardian and the Eevee was an Aura Reader, so this started the partnership between human and pokemon Aura Readers and Guardians.

"At the end, they managed to defeat Shadow Lugia, though at the cost of Eevee's life, and he regained his senses. Apparently right as she died, Eevee managed to evolve into an Espeon, which brought back the memory of his mother. He immediately went back to Espeon and turned back into stone. It was his belief that he no longer had a place in the world since he lived thousands of years before then."

"So where does Honchkrow appear in this story?" Aamira asked.

"Apparently he was one of Shadow's henchman who apparently tricked the human and Eevee into meeting with Shadow and nearly destroyed the world by doing so. Keep in mind that this was hundreds of years after the first Lucario died, so there was no way this could be the same Honchkrow."

"I guess it runs in the family then." Aamira said.

Ninetales chuckled. "Yes, it seems so. A while after this occurrence was when Ho-oh's tower was destroyed. You know how your ancestor who was later turned into Mismagius had been responsible. Apparently the group of humans who were able to convince her to lead an attack on Ho-oh had a boss. This boss of theirs had a Honchkrow who was responsible for turning her aura dark and making her lose any reasoning she had left."

"So a Honchkrow caused that too…" Aamira said. "So in a way a Honchkrow was responsible for the legend I had to go through with Quill and Lucario. And once again their was a Honchkrow who helped Mismagius. And now that same Honchkrow is helping whoever it is behind this new legend."

"It all ties together." Ninetales said. "And Honchkrow seemed to link the parts that normally wouldn't flow together. Keep in mind, the three legends I just told you were brief summaries. This diary details everything that happened at that time and many pokemon are mentioned, sometimes more than once. Honchkrow being a part of these legends was as brief as any other pokemon mentioned. It took quite a bit of digging for me to realize that Honchkrow in the past have played small, but very major parts in these legends. And now that our Honchkrow is running amok, it seems as if history is repeating itself."

"There's something that I've noticed about all of these legends…" Aamira said nervously. "And that's that, near the end, someone always seems to die…"

Ninetales nodded. "Shadow, Espeon, Lucario, Eevee and Shadow again. If this pattern of death continues, I can only advise you to be extremely careful. And be sure that Quill hears about all of this."

"He already heard all of it."

The door opened and Quill walked in a little nervously. "So you knew I was there all along."

Aamira nodded. "I thought I would wait to say anything. With you standing outside, it would be less likely that anyone else would eavesdrop on us."

"So can you tell us anything about the legend that we're involved in now?" Quill asked.

"That's what's so frustrating." Ninetales said. "I was afraid of history repeating itself, so I've been trying to decipher it. Apparently there's a legend and a prophecy both associated with each other. My great, great, grandmother didn't write anything about the legend, but she did record the prophecy. It was the last thing she ever wrote in here. It's very worn down from the years it wasn't used and since I hardly know any of the language it's written in, deciphering it isn't exactly easy. I can only make out a few words here and there. There's this one part that I think might refer to you two that I've been trying to figure out, but you have no idea how much of it could be changed by one small character that's been worn away."

She opened the book to one of the last pages. Somehow it didn't surprise Aamira that it was written in the language that she had somehow come to understand. It was true that only a few words could be deciphered, but there was a whole half of a stanza that was just barely readable

" 'The traitor lurks as the fourth who causes great strife to the two siblings who struggle with life.' "

Ninetales stared at Aamira, obviously surprised that she was able to read it. "I'm not going to ask how you could read that, but maybe since you can, you could help me with something." She pointed to the part that mentioned the two siblings. "If you look closely, there's just a single character that was worn away. I can't make out what it was, but there's no way to tell exactly what it means without that one character."

Aamira nodded. "Two could easily be twenty or even two hundred, though I doubt it. But if there was another word associated with it, like 'last' or 'told'. Then it could translate out into 'the last two siblings' or 'the two prophesized siblings'. Who knows? That one missing letter might change the entire prophecy and completely change the meaning."

Ninetales nodded. "So you can see why I'm so intent on finding out what this letter is. It might even spell out what happens to the two of you. After all, that phrase that translates into 'who struggle with life' isn't often times just thrown around. It could be something dangerous. Especially since it mentions a traitor."

Aamira and Ninetales were too busy trying to figure this out to notice Quill quickly look away. Honchkrow had been involved in quite a bit of this. He knew that Honchkrow was trying to get him to betray Aamira, but why? And what if that last letter somehow really did point to him being a traitor? There was just no way that something like that could ever happen!

"It's already late in the afternoon." Ninetales said. "You two should go back to your room for some last minute preparations. The tournaments still a few hours from now."

The two of them headed back as she suggested. They decided to get some last minute training in, much to the delight of a few passing pokemon. They started to clear out once the two of them used their new moves. Quill used Eruption and out of panic Aamira used Sucker Punch. Eruption was too strong for Sucker punch to counter completely, so the two attacks ended up causing a lot of damage to the surrounding area. Luckily no one was hurt and none of the buildings were damaged, but it came pretty close.

Typhlosion was passing by when this little incident occurred. He stared at them for a minute, acted like he was about to say something, then just continued walking in the opposite direction. The two of them spent the remainder of their free time trying to move a few tons of dirt to cover the damage they had caused.

When they finally finished, they headed inside to rest up before the first match began. They found their other team members playing with Shuppet, who had joined their team only yesterday. Aron had apparently gone on a mission with her just that morning and they hardly ran into any trouble because Shuppet only had to eat the enemy's feelings of hatred in order to keep them from attacking. It was a useful ability to have. They also saw that Shuppet's "bed" had been added to their room. It was a molding that went around the ceiling that looked like the eaves on a house.

Shuppet hung herself on the molding from the horn on her head and was about to fall asleep right before Quill and Aamira were about to leave.

"Aren't you coming?" Quill asked.

"Nah." She yawned and closed her eyes. "I don't sense any vengeful souls there. I won't be able to get a meal, so I should conserve my strength."

"Well alright then." Aamira headed out after Quill and their other team members ran ahead to get some good seats. Unlike competing members, they weren't guaranteed a seat in the front row.

It was dark out now. The stadium was lit by torches with flames curling into the night sky. It was a tense atmosphere that had all of the competing pokemon itching for their chance to fight.

Aamira and Quill took their seats with the other competitors in the front row. The box they had been in before was now occupied by the pokemon representing the competing countries. Charmeleon stepped forward and greeted the crowd in his father's place. After the introductions were over the first two competitors were called out to the field. Roy and Skarmory took their places and the first match of the first round began.


	36. Chapter 36 Round One

As soon as they got the signal to start the battle, Skarmory launched herself into the air and attacked Roy with Metal Sound. Roy screamed in pain and bent over, clutching his ears while the rest of the audience all let out a small shout in unison. The pokemon with strong ears, like Sandshrew were acting the way Roy was, who had gotten the full blast.

Quill looked over to Sandshrew and saw that he was crying from the pain in his ears.

"Are you alright?" Quill asked.

It took a moment for Sandshrew to recover before speaking. "I don't think I want to fight Skarmory anymore…"

While Roy was still down, Skarmory flew towards him and used Air Slash. Roy was knocked backwards and for a while was unable to move.

"That Air Slash was a lot stronger after using Metal Sound." Aamira said. "And it made him cringe too. This doesn't look good."

Skarmory did a flip in the air and with a flurry of her steel wings, dove towards Roy while preparing to attack with Arial Ace.

"This could be the end of the match for one of the promising rookies of Team Sandstone!" Charmeleon shouted over the crowd.

Just as her attack was about to make contact, Roy jumped into the air and hit her in the middle of the back with Thunderpunch. Skarmory screeched and fell to the ground, leaving a big indent on the floor of the battle field.

"That was a risky sort of gambit that he just pulled off." Charmeleon said. "Looks like his Inner Focus ability kept him from cringing. It would seem that it was a rouse to get Skarmory close enough to attack."

"Well it worked!" Quill said to Aamira.

"Yea, but I doubt he can do it again…" she said.

Skarmory got up and was about to launch back into the air, when she suddenly cringed in pain and sparks danced across her metallic body.

"It would seem that Roy's last attack has left her paralyzed!" Charmeleon said.

Roy took the opportunity to attack with another Thunderpunch and follow up with Rock Tomb before Skarmory was able to shake of the paralysis and get back into the air. Bits of rock from the Rock Tomb still clung to her as she flew and it made her a lot slower when flying. Skarmory hovered in the air for a moment. Neither of them took their eyes off of their opponent for a single moment.

Skarmory took a deep breath and relaxed herself and dove through the air to build up speed with Agility before attacking with another Arial Ace.

"Never before have I seen such an intense first match!" Charmeleon said. And, of course, the audience couldn't look away from the battle that was happening right in front of them. "Judging from the way this battle is going so far, it's impossible to tell who will win this!"

Skarmory kept up with her combination of Agility and Arial Ace. Soon it seemed like Roy was just barely standing. It didn't seem like there was any way out of this.

"He can't beat her!" Quill said.

"No, wait!" Aamira said. "I think I know what he's doing!" Considering she had mentioned that move to Ruko only the previous day, it wouldn't have made sense if she hadn't seen it coming. She had used that move herself in a few situations like this.

As Skarmory was about to attack with another Arial Ace, Roy started to glow and attacked with Reversal. Skarmory screeched and fell on the battlefield, unconscious.

"It looks like Skarmory's down for the count!" Charmeleon said. "The winner of the first match is Roy!"

The crowd erupted into applause as Roy started to cheer and a couple of Combusken rushed onto the battlefield to carry Skarmory to see a doctor.

Roy limped over to the front row where the others were sitting and sat next to his brother.

"Nice one, Roy!" Sandshrew said. "Honestly, I probably would have fainted right after hearing that Metal Sound. So I guess it was a good idea that we switched…"

"Hey, don't worry about it!" he said. "Just do your best in your match against Aamira."

"I'm so excited; I can't wait to see whose battling next!" Quill said.

Luxray burst into a bout of loud laughter. "You really should have paid more attention to the matchups, kid!"

"Let's get this next match underway!" Charmeleon shouted. "Second match; Quill versus Luxray!"

Luxray growled in excitement and immediately jumped onto the battlefield, leaving Quill to sit there stunned for a minute before Charmeleon's words finally sunk in and he rushed onto the battle field, looking a little embarrassed.

Luxray released a bolt of electricity into the air. Clouds immediately gathered, covering the starry sky, and the fire types ran for cover. Lightning flashed in the sky and it started to pour rain. Quill looked around confused. Obviously he didn't know that Luxray could learn Rain Dance.

Quill jumped towards the soft ground and used Dig. Immediately Ninetales groaned and shook her head. "Didn't he pay attention to what I said earlier?"

True to what she had said, Luxray seemed to be tracking his progress under the ground, somehow seeing through the earth with only his eyes. Quill jumped up from the ground, covered with mud, only for Luxray to immediately attack with Mud Slap. Quill was hit with a blast of mud that knocked him back along the muddy ground. While he was trying to wipe the mud from his eyes, Luxray hit him with Thunder, which was even more powerful with the raging thunderstorm.

"While our first match was incredibly close, this one seems one sided so far." Charmeleon said. "Things are not looking good for Quill."

"I think he's completely forgotten all of the attacks he relearned before coming here…" Aamira said. "This isn't good…"

The rain eventually washed the mud from Quill's eyes. It just so happened that at that moment he did remember one of the attacks he had learned. The patches on his back started to glow as he generated heat inside of his body. He opened his mouth and a burst of flame shot from it and tore the thunder cloud in two. Luxray tried his hardest to shield his eyes from the intense light that was now shining down into the stadium from Quill's Sunny Day.

At first it didn't make sense how the sun could be shining at night. Aamira shielded her eyes from the intense light and tried to look up at the sky. There was definitely something there that looked like the sun, but it seemed a lot closer and more three dimensional.

Then it hit her why Quill had used so much fire. It was an imitation sun created from an orb of fire. It was amazing, in a way. He had managed to shoot fire hundreds of feet in the air through torrential rain and through clouds made of condensed water vapor, and still was able to make Sunny Day this bright. Even though it was in the middle of the night, it looked strong enough to last the same amount of time as a normal Sunny Day. Quill's training had definitely paid off.

"Alright!" Aamira jumped out of her seat, along with a few other pokemon, and cheered for Quill. His recovery didn't end there though.

Quill used Rollout and the mud from the ground hardened around him as the sun began to dry it. Luxray used Thunder on Quill, but the earthen shield that had formed around him from the mud protected him from most of the damage. Quill hit Luxray with Rollout, but Luxray quickly countered by slashing at Quill with his claws, breaking his mud shield and sending him flying back across the battlefield. Just before he hit the ground, Quill flared up his back to cushion the fall with his flames.

Quill opened his mouth and let loose a Flamethrower, which was powered up by the intense heat from the sun. Luxray used Thunder at the same time and the two attacks collided in mid air.

The two pokemon struggled to overpower the other. If one of them moved, the other would follow in the opposite direction, never letting the other gain the upper hand. Sparks of fire and electricity shot from the center where their attacks collided. Neither of them was letting up and the power in the center was starting to build up.

The crowd's excitement grew as the outcome of the battle came down to the strength of fire and lightning. With one last ounce of power, Quill got down on all fours to keep the stream of fire steady and flared up the flames on his back bigger than before and his Flamethrower became just powerful enough to push back the Thunder.

Luxray struggled desperately to pour more power into his attack, but he was getting tired, and this tiny Cyndaquil was so determined. At the last minute, he faltered for a fraction of a second and the torrent of fire finally reached him. Quill's fire finally went out and he stood at the opposite end of the battle field, gasping for breath, waiting for the flames to disperse.

To his amazement, Luxray was still standing, but he was covered in bad burns and was shaking from the effort just to keep standing. Quill ran towards him, ready to use another Rollout attack, but right before he started his attack, he stopped. Something seemed strange about Luxray's eyes. They seemed more distant than before. Quill walked closer to him, a little hesitantly and stared up into his eyes. Luxray's face was almost frozen in a fierce snarl. It took him a moment to realize what had happened.

He looked around at the audience confused, wondering what he should do next. The audience looked just as confused. Typhlosion jumped onto the field and ran towards Quill.

"What's wrong?" Typhlosion asked.

"Luxray's still standing, but he's passed out." Quill said.

"What?" Typhlosion looked at Luxray's eyes and waved his hand in front of them to see if they would follow the motion, but it was obvious that he was completely out of it.

"So what now?" Quill asked.

"I honestly don't know…" Typhlosion said. "I had to memorize the rules to be the referee, but I don't think there's anything about a pokemon fainting while standing up." He reached into his back and pulled out a thick book and started to look through the pages. The crowd was starting to grow a little impatient but for the most part they waited politely. "Ok there is something in here." He shouted loudly enough for the entire audience to hear him. "It would seem that Luxray has fainted and is therefore unable to continue for the time being."

The audience cheered for a moment before Typhlosion cut in again. "However, we must stick to the rules. The battle can be declared over once one of the competitors is unable to battle and a part of their body other than their feet or tail touches the ground. This rule was added as a way of allowing competitors to use Rest during a battle. Since Luxray is still standing, then legally this battle is still underway."

Some of the crowd shouted in protest, though the pokemon from Tempestas seemed relieved that the one representing their country was still in the contest.

"Just knock him over!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

"Yea, just end the battle already!"

'End it?' Quill looked at Luxray's face, still barely moving and almost frozen into a snarl. This was one of the most determined opponents he had ever faced before. 'After what I've seen so far, I don't think it would be right to win just by knocking him over. Right, so I'll…'

Quill backed away a little bit and sat on the ground. Since he was still conscious, it didn't matter if he sat down to wait. The crowd didn't realize what he was doing at first, but soon erupted into a frenzy once they realized that Quill wasn't just about to end the battle. He had been struggling this whole time to keep up with Luxray, yet he was still prepared to wait for him to regain consciousness before attacking.

Ten minutes went by without even the slightest movement from either side. Finally, one of Luxray's legs moved and he weakly started to walk towards Quill. His eyes were back to normal. He was now fully conscious.

"You're finally awake!" Quill said.

"What?" Luxray stopped and stared at Quill, realizing for the first time that he was sitting on the ground.

Quill stood up and stretched his legs and arms. "You were out cold for over ten minutes, but since you were still standing you were technically still in the battle, so I waited for you to wake up!"

Luxray couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was out cold for that long? How could he have lost ten minutes without realizing it? And why hadn't Quill just knocked him over and ended the match? 'What's with this kid anyway?'

"So, are you ready to keep going?" Quill backed up a little and got back into a battle stance.

Luxray stared at him for a moment, then looked down to his singed fur. He sighed and laid on the ground. "I concede."

"What?" The crowd imitated Quill's surprise.

"I'm not standing anymore, and I'm clearly unable to continue with the injuries you managed to inflict. You win."

The crowd cheered and Quill looked around confused. Had he waited for nothing after all?

Chansey rushed onto the field and helped Luxray to his feet and led him off of the battlefield. The Combusken wanted to help him, but Luxray still had too much pride to be carried off of the battlefield but a couple of Ignians when he was still just barely able to walk on his own.

"That was amazing!" Aamira said to Quill. "Though you won't have room to be that nice during our battle. But that last Flamethrower? I don't think I've ever seen it that strong before.

"I don't know what got into me." He said, blushing from the slight embarrassment. He hadn't really thought much about waiting for Luxray to wake up or about how much power he put into that Flamethrower "At the last minute when I used that Flamethrower I just remembered your promise to battle me, so I didn't want to lose in the first round. But I couldn't just win by knocking him over either. I could have lost, I guess, but I think it was worth waiting. Everything worked out in the end anyway."

Aamira nodded. "And of course I'll be doing my best to win too. That way we can finally have our battle!"

"Don't think I'm a pushover." Sandshrew said. "Underestimate me and I'll have to fight Quill instead of you."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Well I have to go." Quill said. "Chansey says that I should stay in the infirmary for the next match so I can be away from the excitement and get my injuries treated. They're almost as bad as Luxray's."

"But Ninetales and Dragonair are up next!" Aamira said.

"I'll still be watching." Quill said. "I just won't have a front row seat and I'll be in a sound proof room where I won't be able to hear all of the loud screaming."

"Well hurry back!" Aamira said.

Quill nodded and followed Chansey and Luxray, who a lot of people were astonished, could still walk, even after fainting while standing up. Instead of carrying him, the Combusken used the time to relight the torches that had gone out during the storm that Luxray had created. It was almost pitch black in the stadium without them, even with the stars out after the Sunny Day had faded.

Quill watched the battle halfheartedly from the infirmary. He wished he could be back in the front row seat. Ninetales and Dragonair were both beautiful pokemon and the way they attacked was almost like a dance. There was something artful in the way they battled that Quill would have liked to watch at a closer distance, though Dragonair used a lot of water type moves, including Rain Dance, which Quill knew must make Aamira wish she were up there with him instead of in the middle of another thunderstorm.

"That was some battle, for a kid." Luxray said. "I was so confused when I woke up and saw you just sitting there in front of me."

"Maybe you wouldn't have been so confused if you weren't stubborn enough to stay standing even after you passed out." Quill said.

Luxray laughed. "I guess so. Just keep in mind, anyone not from your team most likely entered for the sole purpose of battling you or Aamira or one of the members of Team Sandstone."

"Why is that?" Quill asked. "Why do they want to battle us so badly? I don't know much about Mamoswine and Togetic, but you had that impressive winning streak in Tempestas, Skarmory's a famous competitor at pokeringer, Dragonair comes from a long line of strong relatives, and Ninetales is part of a famous Investigation Team too, so why does everyone want to battle us?"

"Investigation Teams are mainly focused on solving mysteries, right? No one really knows where the two of you come from. Of course you were raised in Vine City, but what about before then? And your partner who just appeared out of nowhere. Aside from that, no one knows what you two have been up to lately either. Not uncommon for members of the Investigators Brigade, but at least there's some information on most other members about their latest accomplishments. And how is it that your partner, who was reported to have died, suddenly reappeared one day with no explanation?"

"What are you getting at?" Quill asked.

"The reason everyone wants to battle you two, is because everyone wants to know you two. Maybe not personally get to know you, but learn more about you. Investigation Teams solve mysteries, and if there's one thing that a lot of people have found mysterious lately, it's the two leaders of Team Sleuth."

Quill let these words sink in for a moment. He had never really thought much about it, but it was true that outside of their friends and a few people they knew back in Vine City, no one really knew much about them. Some people might have known about how they had saved the world some time before, but they didn't know that it happened by sealing Mismagius in a magic staff, which required Lucario to imprison himself, defeating an ancient legendary named Giratina that could travel between worlds, fixing an old mirror by harnessing power from flowers, which caused Aamira to suddenly vanish, leaving Quill all alone.

Then she reappeared some time later with different colored eyes and some new scars that they couldn't explain. Maybe Aamira was mysterious, but him? But then he remembered how the Icy Gem would shine when Quill held it, but not Aamira. And how he recently found out that he was an Aura Guardian. Maybe the two of them really were mysterious like Luxray said.

"But even if that's true, why battle us to find out about us? Why not just ask?" Quill asked.

"You never know when a simple question might cause some deep rooted pain or bring up things you'd rather not talk about." He said. "If that were the case, odds are the person asking wouldn't get a straight answer. You could tell a complete lie or even avoid the question all together. That would leave the inquiring pokemon with one less answer and you with bad memories that the question might have brought up.

"But battling is different. Everyone in their life, at one point or another has competed against someone for fun and not necessarily to do harm to another person. Even if it's something as simple as a pillow fight or a game of chess. There are so many things that you could learn about a pokemon from their battling style. You could find out their fears, what causes them grief, what's fun to them, how much experience they've gained over a certain amount of time, and sometimes even where they spend their time training, if their battle style is one unique to a region. Judging by your fighting style, I would assume you've trained here in Ignis, but I had my doubts about that, considering you two haven't been here long."

"Actually I did train here." Quill said. "And recently too. I guess my fighting style has changed from that short amount of time."

"Then maybe my other guess about you is also correct. In a previous mission, you spent excessive time under water."

"Yea, how could you tell?"

Luxray turned away from the battle and looked towards Quill. "You learn these things from experience. I could tell by the way you could hold that Flamethrower for so long that you've learned to control your breathing. Most likely from diving under water for excessive amounts of time."

"What else could you tell?" This was the first time that Quill had ever spent any real length of time talking with someone from Tempestas. He always thought they were brutish the way they loved to fight so much, but now he was beginning to think that maybe there was something else behind that. Maybe their love for battles wasn't such a bad thing after all. After all, Quill had enjoyed their battle.

"I'm not sure I should say…" As soon as Luxray noticed how eager Quill was about learning from fighting, he decided that he might as well say what else he thought from their battle. "You've been through a lot, but not quite enough to be considered an adult. A lot of bad things, or maybe big things, have happened to you and you're afraid of making mistakes. But you still have a big heart. Unlike so many people who lose their way at time, and I'm ashamed to include myself into that category, you have a true sense of what's right and wrong."

Quill had to think about that for a moment, but he knew it was true. He had always been picked on when he was still in school and he made mistakes constantly because he never thought he could be as good as the ones that picked on him back then. Maybe that part of him still existed. But he had Aamira. Aamira never acted that way towards him. Maybe that's why he could do well as long as she was there.

Maybe being with her was even the reason why he waited for Luxray to stand. He remembered her telling him about the time when they were both captured by bounty hunters. The group she was caught by tried to force her to fight a kid. Instead of fighting, she sat on the ground, which was apparently done when someone refused to fight. She found out later that this kid was apparently a prodigy who was still in school training to become an Investigation Team member, but that hadn't changed anything in her opinion.

Before he knew it, the battle between Dragonair and Ninetales was over. Ninetales had somehow pulled out a victory at the last minute. Apparently Ninetales had inherited a lot of attacks from her ancestors, including Hypnosis, Disable, and Flare Blitz. Quill was kind of scared of the possibility that he might have to fight her later in the tournament.

"Anyone you know competing next?" Luxray asked. Quill shook his head. "Then you won't be missing much. I want to show you something."

He walked over to the hospital bed that Chansey had been letting him use, even though he had refused to take the time to rest. He opened his Collection Bag, which he had set on top of the bed and pulled out his Aura Glass. To Quill's surprise, his team was only Bronze Rank. He expected his rank to be much higher than this.

"I'm the leader of Team Blitz. My team members are Ampharos and Manectric, who unfortunately couldn't enter the tournament. I can understand that. A lot of teams have been busy lately. The only reason we were able to enter was because we haven't been taking a lot of missions. We've been focusing more on training so we can do better at missions and rank up faster later on."

"Well that's pretty smart." Quill said.

"It was Ampharos's idea. We call her the brain behind the team. It was a good idea too. We were able to knock three missions out at one time. Technically we got elevated to Bronze Rank the first time we ever went on a mission because of her. And we'll be going for Silver next. You never would have guessed, though, that the three of us absolutely hated each other when we were in school together. When we were placed on the same team, we started fighting each other almost right away. Somehow, when we were fighting, it just sort of clicked for each of us that we would make a good team. We ended up knocking each other out in that battle and all we could do afterwards was laugh. It turns out we had a bunch in common too, so now we're best friends. Actually, now that I think about it, I have no idea why we used to hate each other so much."

"Pikachu mentioned something like that once." Quill said. "That in Tempestas, after graduating, teams are assigned instead of letting students pick their own teams."

"It's more efficient that way." Luxray shook his head. "But I don't like it. What's the point in forming an Investigation Team, which is the dream of many young kids, if odds are you won't be able to enjoy it with your friends? I'm not against it entirely, after all I met my friends because of the team selections, but not everyone is so lucky. Teams are always chosen based on scores taken during an entrance exam, which is an extremely long and drawn out battle of you're good at it, but extremely quick and painful if you're not so skilled. The ones with the lowest scores are paired up with the ones with the highest. All three of us were sort of in the middle, except Ampharos who isn't that good at battling, but her written test scores proved that she had what it takes to be a great tactician."

Out of the corner of his eye, Quill could see the crowd growing restless. The next match had started by now and apparently something good had just happened, but he didn't really care about that for the time being. He would get the details from the other contestants when he went to join them for Aamira's match.

"I'm not sure if I would like that." Quill said. "If that had been the way it was in Sylva, I would have probably been on a friend's team since she had the highest score and I would have scored the lowest, but Aamira never went to school in Vine City, so I probably wouldn't even know her."

"That's exactly what I mean. Now that Raichu has taken off for who knows where, maybe his son will change things. The system is good, but it should be an option to choose team members. Instead of team selections, I think they should be more along the lines of suggestions that the students can choose whether or not to follow."

"Suggestions sound like a good idea." Quill said. "Noctowl, the leader of Sylva was actually the one who suggested Aamira and I forming a team. It might be fun to have suggestions for team matchups judged by taking a test."

Quill felt a sudden panic and at first didn't know why he was feeling that way. Luxray stared at him, confused, as he saw Quill starting to panic for some unknown reason. It took Quill a minute to realize that it wasn't him feeling that way at all. After all of this time, he had gotten used to not feeling Aamira's emotions.

A few seconds later Aamira came running through the door and ran over to Chansey who was busy bandaging one of Skarmory's wings.

"Mamoswine's hurt badly!" She said to Chansey. "You have to hurry down to the battlefield!"

"What!" Luckily she had just finished wrapping up Skarmory's wing. She followed Aamira out the door and Quill immediately followed after them without thinking twice about it. He had had time to rest like Chansey wanted, so why not?

But Mamoswine was down already? How long did that battle last? Half of the last one? A third? And how had Mamoswine lost? Didn't he know a bunch of ice and rock type moves? Everyone had expected their battle to be a short one, but they hadn't expected this outcome.

Out on the battlefield, there was confusion everywhere. The first few rows on the far side of the battlefield had been destroyed along with the stone wall separating the audience from the battlefield. The pokemon who had been sitting in that area had all rushed onto the battlefield and luckily there were only minor injuries in the audience.

Mamoswine wasn't so lucky. He was laying trapped under the rubble from the stone wall. Quill noticed a couple of large skid marks in the ground in front of him. Whatever had happened, he had hit the wall hard. The Combusken who had carried Skarmory to the infirmary were now desperately trying to dig out Mamoswine from underneath the rubble.

"Is he alright?" Quill asked Aamira.

"I'm not sure…" She said. "I wasn't really expecting it. I didn't know that Togekiss could learn Aura Sphere. Mamoswine wasn't expecting it either. He doesn't do too well against fighting type attacks."

"Even so! That must have been one strong attack to knock out a pokemon of his size and destroy such a large part of the stadium in one hit." He looked up and saw Togekiss perched at the top of the stadium, cleaning her feathers as if she didn't know, or didn't care, what was going on around her.

"She acted like someone completely different once she entered the battlefield. That nice and cheerful personality was just suddenly gone as if it had never existed. The only way I could describe the way she acted was 'scary' because that's exactly what it was. No other words for it."

Quill looked up at Aamira. He knew very few instances when she found something to be scary. He almost wished that he had been there to see what had happened for himself, though he imagined that it was complete chaos when it first happened. Charmeleon had apparently rushed out of the box where all of the country representatives were to help calm everyone.

A few people gave nervous glances to Togekiss. And why not? She had caused all of that damage and had won her first match in the least amount of time. There was no telling what other tricks she had planned.

After all of the rubble was finally moved, Chansey was finally able to treat Mamoswine's injuries. A few Golem arrived and started using their rock type moves to remake the destroyed benches and reform the destroyed wall. While they waited, the pokemon on the battlefield roamed around talking about what they had witnessed.

Quill had wandered off somewhere in the crowd, but Aamira wasn't too worried about him. She was more worried about Mamoswine and how long her own match would be postponed. Now she had a new reason to win her match; to beat Togekiss if they were paired up in a later battle.

Aamira spotted Roy in the crowd who, immediately after seeing Aamira, ran towards her. Judging by the expression on his face, he had been looking for her in the crowd.

"Hey, I've wanted to ask you a favor, but I haven't had the chance to ask you until now. Luckily this crowd's so noisy that there's no way Sandshrew will be able to overhear this."

Aamira had actually been waiting for this. Of course Roy was worried about his younger brother, but that didn't mean that she was going to go along with what he was about to ask her.

"I know that he's really not strong enough to be here… He has been practicing like he said, but the competitors are a lot stronger than the ones I fought last year and I just don't think he's ready. So I was hoping that you would do everything you could to knock him out of the tournament."

"Look, Roy. I know you want me to—wait, did you say to knock him out of the tournament?"

Roy nodded.

Aamira hadn't been expecting this. "I thought you were going to ask me to lose on purpose so that he could keep going. I couldn't do that."

"I didn't want him to enter to begin with, but he was so eager to. I figured if he lost to you it wouldn't be as bad at least. After all, he's really wanted to battle you and Quill for a while now, though I'm not sure why. I'm just terrified that he'll end up fighting against someone like Togekiss. After seeing what she could do with Aura Sphere…"

"Don't worry about it." Aamira said in a casual tone. "If he wins that just proves he's meant to be here. It's not like I'll let him win on purpose. Whatever happens, happens so I'm not making any promises but I'll try my best to win all the same."

"Oh… well, thanks anyway." Roy started to walk away, but Aamira stopped him.

"Being in an investigation team can be dangerous too."

He seemed to be thinking about what she was trying to say. After a while of thinking about it, he ran back through the crowd. Aamira wondered if he was going to look for Sandshrew.

'Most likely.' She started to head back to the front row where the competitors had been sitting. The others would be coming back soon too, since the destroyed benches had been fixed.

Soon everyone was back in their seats, though Togekiss had mysteriously vanished in the excitement. Charmeleon waited a few minutes to make sure that everyone was back where they were supposed to be before restarting the tournament.

"Now that that bit of excitement has been fixed, thanks to Ignis's dedicated construction team and Chansey's expert medical care, we can get on with the final match. Before that, I'd like to assure you all that Mamoswine will make a full recovery." Well that was good to hear. The damage from the Aura Sphere was bad enough, but it was even worse with the wall collapsing on him the way it had. "Now let's get the final match of the first round underway. Aamira versus Sandshrew."

The two of them rushed onto the battlefield. As soon as they got the signal from Typhlosion to start the battle, Sandshrew curled into a ball and spun on the ground, causing a sandstorm to whip up. Aamira covered her eyes to keep the sand out and flinched as it made its impact. The tiny grains of sand felt like small needles brushing up against her with the speed of the wind pushing them along through the air. She used the aura sensors on the side of her head to try to keep track of Sandshrew's movements. He seemed to be a lot faster than before and he was hard to keep track of.

Then Aamira remembered something that she had heard a long time ago. A type of stone that made it hard for aura users to use their abilities was quartz. Well, as it so happens, sand is actually made up of mostly quartz. So not only was Sandshrew hard to find from Sand Veil, he was also nearly impossible to sense with the energy of his aura being bounced all over the place by the quartz.

She moved one of her arms slightly to try to catch a glimpse of him and nearly screamed when swirling walls of sand suddenly formed around her. Maybe she did scream, but the sound of the wind from Sand Tomb, blocked out any noise she might have made.

Aamira blindly tried to fire Aura Spheres out of the sand tomb. She had taken to keeping her eyes closed to free up her arms. It didn't matter either way. She couldn't see a thing through the sandstorm.

She felt the Sand Tomb's power lessen and she ran out, trying to find Sandshrew. The sandstorm was still as strong as ever, but Sandshrew wasn't bothering to keep hiding. He leapt out of the swirling sand, preparing to hit Aamira with Poison Jab.

Instinctively, Aamira raised her arms to protect herself. The Poison Jab hit the two bones on the backs of her paws. Just as she pushed him back, one of his claws caught on her arm and some of the poison seeped into the small wound.

Before he hit the ground, Aamira ran towards him and hit him with Drain Punch, not giving him any time to counter attack. He hit the ground hard and the sandstorm died down, much to the great relief of the audience. Not only were some of them being affected by it, but the sandstorm was so strong that they couldn't see their battle at all.

They were surprised to see that Aamira looked a lot worse off than Sandshrew. Even after Drain Punch, Aamira felt like she was getting weaker. It had been such a small cut, but that poison was working fast. She was starting to feel sick to her stomach.

"It would seem that Sandshrew, the rookie, now has a huge lead over Aamira, who has been in an Investigation Team for nearly a year and a half now." Charmeleon said over the surprised conversations of the crowd. "I can't tell you what happened in that sandstorm, but whatever it was clearly wasn't something anyone was expecting."

As soon as Sandshrew got up, Aamira attacked with Aura Sphere. Quill could tell that something was wrong then. It didn't seem as strong as usual and seemed to be wobbling a little.

Sandshrew dodged by burrowing underground. Aamira tried to run to keep the attack from hitting, but no doubt he felt and heard the vibrations from her footsteps. He jumped out of the ground as easily as if it had been made completely of sand instead of hard igneous rock. He rolled up into a ball and hit Aamira right under the chin, knocking her over and nearly knocking her out.

Aamira knew that this wasn't looking good for her. If she was going to stay in the tournament, she had to end this battle fast. She thought about Sucker Punch. With her strength combined with Sandshrew's, she could easily beat him with it. But there was one problem…

Every person in the crowd had their eyes glued on the two of them. Aamira had promised herself before the tournament started that she wouldn't use Sucker Punch. After seeing how strong it was combined with Quill's Eruption, she was too afraid to use it in front of all of these people. What would they think of her? And what if someone got hurt? Ruko mentioned that this move had saved her life before, but a tournament wasn't really a requirement to use it. No, she wouldn't use this power at all during the tournament. Not unless there was an opponent who really did put her in a life threatening situation.

Aamira suddenly got an idea that might just save her. She ran up towards Sandshrew, who easily heard her coming and prepared to counterattack. Right before she reached him, Aamira used Force Palm on the ground. The power from the attack was released into the ground, causing bits of the stone floor to break apart and fly into the air, dragging Sandshrew with it.

Sandshrew turned his head side to side frantically. Aamira had run from her original location. The sound of falling stone made it impossible to hear her footsteps. He sniffed at the air trying to find her scent, but after being stuck in the sandstorm, all he could smell was the earth. It was the first time he ever felt truly blind, and it scared him.

Sandshrew didn't know how high he had been blasted into the air, but he instinctively rolled into a ball to cushion the impact of the fall.

With a last burst of energy, Aamira ran towards a nearby wall, jumped up, and ran along the vertical surface for a few steps before using the wall to jump into the air towards Sandshrew.

Just as her attack was about to hit, Sandshrew heard the sound of Aamira's Drain Punch speeding through the air towards him, but didn't have time to counterattack since he was still rolled into a ball.

Aamira hit him hard with the Drain Punch, stealing most of his energy and sending him flying diagonally towards the ground. Aamira fell immediately after along with the smaller and lighter bits of debris from the floor of the battlefield.

Charmeleon looked back and fourth between the two of them. Aamira was surrounded by the debris from her attack and Sandshrew had formed a small crater in the ground from where he had hit. There wasn't any sign of movement on either side for a while. Then Charmeleon finally saw Sandshrew crawling out of the crater.

Just as he crawled out of the crater, he collapsed unconscious on the ground. Though she didn't want to, Aamira knew that she had to get up. Her arms shook with the effort of pushing herself off of the ground. She had literally used every bit of her strength on that last attack. If she had used any other attack other than Drain Punch, she realized, Sandshrew would have won.

But he hadn't. Aamira stood on the battlefield surrounded by turned up earth. Her legs were shaking badly and her arms hung limply at her sides, but she had somehow won. She now knew never to underestimate Sandshrew again.

"Well it was a close one," Charmeleon said, "but the winner of the last match of the first round is Aamira!"

Aamira smiled weakly as the crowd started to cheer for her. It sounded like Quill's voice was the loudest. Just as this thought entered her mind, everything went black.

Aamira woke up some time later in the infirmary. Sandshrew was sitting upright on the bed next to her. He looked a bit moody, but was apparently finally agreeing to take some medicine that Chansey was trying to get him to take.

"Oh, you're awake." Chansey said. "I didn't think you'd wake up at least until the sun rose. Sandshrew's poison was a lot worse than I expected."

"It's my own special mixture." Sandshrew said. "Sandshrew and Sandslash are naturally talented when it comes to finding plants that can cure and cause poisons. I just happened to be better because of my sense of smell."

"It's true. I don't know how long Aamira would have been out for if you hadn't provided me with that antidote." Chansey said.

"That battle was a little too close." Aamira was surprised by how shaky her voice was. She suddenly realized how tired and thirsty she was. "You're definitely a lot stronger than you look."

"Luxray told me what was going on during that sandstorm." Roy said. "When did you learn Poison Jab?"

"I told you I've been practicing."

Roy had to laugh a little. "Yea, you did. I'm sorry I tried to make you drop out."

"It's fine." Sandshrew said. "I still lost anyway."

"It was close." Aamira said. "Even to the very end there, you nearly won."

Quill walked into the room in front of a few other people and ran to Aamira once he noticed that she was awake.

"I can't believe you won!" He jumped up and gave Aamira a big hug, but stopped and backed off after he noticed her wincing in pain. "Sorry. Typhlosion said you were pretty badly hurt, but I guess I got carried away…"

"Understandable." She said, half sarcastically. "And, truth be told, I can't believe I won either. After Poison Jab I didn't think there was any way to win."

"You know, you've got to win the competition now that you beat me!" Sandshrew said. "I'll never forgive you if you don't win the whole thing."

Aamira smiled a little awkwardly. It's hard to believe that this little kid who had been refusing to take some medicine and thought so simply had nearly beaten her. It was definitely a humbling experience. "I'll try my best." Was all Aamira was able to say.

Typhlosion cleared his throat and all of the pokemon, who Aamira finally realized were the other competitors who had advanced to the next round, turned to him and gave him their full attention. She didn't notice right away, but there was one extra person there who Aamira wasn't glad to see while injured. Hunter. Though, strangely enough, he wasn't paying her any attention. It was as if all he was focused on was the tournament.

"After a few hours of debate," Typhlosion began. A few hours? How long had Aamira been out? "I've come up with the matchups for the second battle. Unlike last time, there will be no switching. Is that understood?" No one objected. "Be sure to memorize the matchups carefully." He said with a little emphasis. Quill was glad that he hadn't singled him out.

Typhlosion flipped over a piece of poster board that he had brought in with him. On it was the list of match ups. In the first match was Roy and Hunter. Roy noticed this and gave a nervous glance to Hunter. Aamira didn't think they had every actually met, but it was obvious that he felt uneasy being close to Hunter. In the second match was Quill and Ninetales. Great. But when Quill thought about it, the only person here that he really wouldn't have had a problem going up against was Roy, but it might as well be someone he liked at least.

That left Aamira and Togekiss. Aamira had a bad feeling about her. She was there now with the others and didn't seem at all like the nice and cheerful pokemon she was before. Her eyes were serious and she wasn't smiling. Aamira couldn't tell what was going on in her head, but the nice act that she had pulled before was making her really suspicious. Aside from hunter, everyone else who entered the tournament seemed like really decent people. Now it looked like there was one more competitor to keep an eye on.


	37. Chapter 37 Not Just Candy

Aamira was laying in the hospital bed and staring up at the ceiling. Chansey wouldn't let her leave, but she didn't want Quill to have to stay there with her so she told him to go enjoy the festival. It was morning now, Luxray was asleep, and Chansey had gone off to check up on Sandshrew, who had been allowed to leave after a quick checkup. Apparently it wasn't very common for the winner to have worse injuries than the loser.

Aamira spent this time practicing resonating her aura with Quill's. He had a bit of an advantage here, since he had been able to feel her emotions a lot longer. Even so, she could just barely feel when he suddenly became excited for some reason. He must be having fun, though she was too far away to tell if he was with any of their other friends.

A few minutes later he came back to the infirmary carrying a large brown sack of some sort and with a huge smile.

"You'll never believe what just happened!" Quill shouted. "I won the first place prize in a prize drawing!"

"What was the prize?" Aamira sniffed at the air when she smelled something strange. It smelled sweet but really spicy at the same time. She had never smelled anything like it before.

Quill reached into the bag and pulled out a circular piece of candy. It was clear kind of a dark amber color. There was some sort of filling in the center that wasn't clear that could be seen easily through it.

"I won a bag of Lava Rock candy!" He said excitedly. "Typhlosion was mad too. He bought five tickets for the drawing, at 200 poke each and I only bought one."

"Wait, so he paid 1,000 poke for CANDY?" Aamira asked. "Not really for candy, but a chance to win candy. That's a little out of character for him."

"Well Charmeleon bought fifteen tickets. Apparently it's really hard to make them with the perfect balance of flavors and the right texture. Not to mention the honey filling is imported all the way from Sylva, so getting it here costs quite a bit. So really 1,000 to 30,000 for something this rare and in this quantity is quite the bargain. Typhlosion said that in the worst of times a bag half this size would sell for about 75,000 poke."

"For CANDY!" Aamira said again.

Quill laughed. "It's good candy! I gave some to Typhlosion and Charmeleon anyway since they were so mad about it and I still have a lot left over."

"You really are too nice." Apparently Luxray was still awake after all.

"But that's besides the point. If a nation was in debt and had a bunch of this stockpiled, they could save their economy using candy!" Aamira asked.

"Well, I think if they tried to sell all of it at once the value would go down, so it wouldn't really work that way. Luckily none of the nations are in debt and it's still a really good treat!"

"How good could spicy honey be?" Aamira asked.

Quill tossed one of the candies to Aamira. "Well try it and find out!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were—" Luxray's warning came a little too late. Aamira put the candy in her mouth and immediately screamed and covered her mouth. It really did dissolve quickly like Quill had said before, so she couldn't just spit it all out. Her eyes had never watered as much as they had just then.

"That was terrible!" She said after finally managing to swallow it.

Quill laughed. "Sorry, I forgot. Only fire types like them. They're too spicy for anyone else." He put another piece into his mouth. It was obvious that he really liked it, but Aamira's tongue was still burning. "Well, almost anyone. Back when these were easier to make, there used to be an eating contest during the festival. Charmeleon said he entered when he was just a little kid, but even though he was a fire type he couldn't beat a Munchlax that entered that year. Apparently now there's a competition among non fire types for trying to beat his record, but it's like torture trying to eat something this spicy. And of course, since the original creator of the recipe died, no one knows how he was able to make them so easily so now it's hard to find enough to be able to ATTEMPT to break the record."

"All of this… caused by candy… Not even good candy at that!"

Quill laughed again. Something like this didn't seem like such a big deal for him, but apparently Aamira's world wasn't this carefree. Apparently no one got this excited about any sort of amazing foods in her world.

"But why hasn't anyone figured out how to make it easily?" Aamira asked. "If someone did it before, then surely it wouldn't be that hard."

"Well one of the main ingredients is a plant with really spicy leaves. Since Moltres disappeared, that plant stopped growing so they had to find it on nearby islands. Since it's becoming more common here it doesn't cost as much to find it, but they still don't know the process used for blending it with the honey."

"Well there must be some sort of clue as to how it was made. Wasn't there some sort of workshop or factory or something where the inventor made it?"

"Yea, but apparently it's cursed."

Luxray laughed. "I always heard that the people in Ignis were superstitious, but a cursed candy factory?"

"It is a little weird…" Aamira said. "Why do people say it's cursed?"

"Apparently ever since the owner's death, people see strange lights inside the building and hear weird sounds coming from inside."

"And let me guess…" Aamira said. "People are saying that it's the owner's ghost who haunts the building?"

"That's the idea." Quill said.

"Well, let's go." Aamira stood up and grabbed her bag off of the corner of the bed.

"What?" Quill asked "You mean, go to the factory?"

"Of course." Aamira said. "Ghosts? Okay, I'll admit some strange things have happened. But aside from the move Curse, real curses don't exist!"

"Maybe it doesn't, but didn't Chansey tell you to stay here and rest?"

"And what could be more relaxing than a trip to an ordinary, abandoned, not haunted candy factory?"

Quill sighed. He knew when he was beaten. "Fine, let's go. The next round of the tournament doesn't start until tomorrow night anyway, so it's not like we have to spend the day resting for it."

As they moved through the city, Aamira noticed that there were fewer pokemon near the edges of the city. The colorful decorations became less and less and the buildings became farther apart.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Aamira asked.

"Typhlosion said it was around here somewhere. At the northern edge of the city."

If they hadn't been looking for it, they wouldn't have noticed. In fact, if Aamira wasn't mistaken, they had walked passed it once when going up to the volcano to find Moltres. It was a small building made of stone with a few rocks overlapping in some places to make openings for a window and a door. There was a tattered piece of cloth hanging over the doorway that swayed slightly in the wind.

"This can't be it." Aamira said. "It just looks like an old hut that a hermit would live in."

When they got closer and looked inside, they found an iron door in the center of the floor. They struggled to open it, but finally managed to. Underneath was an iron ladder that led underground. Apparently the ground floor was just where the owner lived. The factory itself was further down.

The two of them climbed down and jumped as the trap door swung shut behind them with a loud bang. Aamira ran back up and tried to push it back open, but it wouldn't budge. She tried using a few of her attacks on it, to no avail.

"Well, we're stuck here." Aamira said. "I hope there's another way out somewhere."

Quill ignited the fire on his back to give them enough light to see by. The factory was like a maze. Whoever lived here had way too much time on their hands.

They stopped suddenly when they heard a strange humming noise. Quill tried to convince himself that it wasn't a ghost, but being stuck down in the dark like this was really making it hard to convince himself.

"Hello..?" he said.

"Is… Is someone there?" Someone shouted from a distance. "Is the trap door open?"

"No, it closed behind us." Aamira said.

Whoever it was at the end of the tunnel groaned. "Oh brilliant. Closed, did it? Though I suppose there are more pressing matters at the moment. Could you give me a hand? I seem to be stuck. I've been trying to get out for the last two hours now."

The two of them ran down the tunnel, following the sound of the humming that would come every now and then. Once it lasted an especially long amount of time, until there came the sound of a loud bang followed by whoever it was trapped down here shouting in agony.

"Are you alright?" Aamira asked.

"Oh yes, perfectly fine." He said sarcastically. "I only have a bookshelf crushing my wings.

They turned down another tunnel towards the sound of the voice and found a Ledian trapped underneath a huge bookshelf. Aamira ran towards him and lifted it off of him.

Ledian gave a sigh of relief and sat up against the wall. "This many books and scrolls down here, and not a single map. How is it that the old owner of this place never got lost down here?"

"So that humming noise was your wings?" Quill asked. "And the lights that people see must be from the spots on your back."

"I told you it wasn't haunted!" Aamira said. "But what are you doing down here, anyway?"

"Ah, well, I was going to visit a friend of mine in Aequor when I was able to get some time off from my job. I know when I reached the shore I should have waited a while before continuing. I was tired, but I really wanted to get there as soon as possible. I get energy from starlight, so I didn't think it would be a big deal to fly there at night. Unfortunately, there were some really strong tropical winds that night and one of my wings cramped up right above a current that runs between Ignis and Aequor. I could have been sent in either direction, but I ended up here. Judging from the stone I would said it's somewhere in Ignis, but I don't know where exactly. I just washed up at the mouth of a cave. Unfortunately, I can't fly when my wings are wet, so I went to look for another way out. That must have been around the time when the earthquakes started, because the tunnel to the ocean collapsed and I could never find another way out aside from the trap door."

"I tried to open it after it slammed shut." Aamira said. "But I couldn't lift it and none of my attacks worked."

"It locks automatically from the outside. THE OUTSIDE! What was the owner of this place thinking! Why make a door that locks from the outside?"

"This whole adventure is weird so far." Aamira said. "I mean really, we're investigating a haunted candy factory owned by someone who I'm sure by now is probably either a genius, or completely insane."

"I'd go with the latter." Ledian said. "Wait, this is a candy factory?"

"How long have you been down here again?" Quill asked.

"Uh, Quill…" Aamira said. "Is there any chance that maybe we're in the wrong place?"

"Well, there are a number of berries down here." Ledian said. "Most are types that don't require lots of light, which explains how they're still growing after all of this time. They're mostly Tamato Berries though. I don't know why anyone would use such a spicy berry for candy."

"That's the plant they use to make Lava Rock Candy." Quill said. "We must be in the right place if there are lots of those growing down here."

"Alright, then." Aamira said. "We've proven it's not haunted, it's not cursed, or anything of the sort, so let's look for a way out of here."

Quill sniffed at the air. "I can't smell any wind or saltwater. If there's a way out it's probably hidden."

"Wouldn't surprise me, honestly." Ledian said. "I've been living down here for years surviving off of Tamato berries and I hadn't the slightest idea this was a place where candy used to be made. There are traps everywhere, dead end corridors, and any other fun things you could imagine."

"In a candy factory." Aamira sighed. "But I don't get it. Isn't there a way out? If people see your lights at night, then there must be opening somewhere."

Ledian shook his head. "Only iron vents that lead to the surface, obviously used to exchange the air down here with the air on the surface. They're made the same way as the trap door, so I doubt you'd be able to get us out of here."

"Maybe if I shot a Flamethrower through one? Someone might notice." Quill said.

"In the middle of the day? And in a country where fire shooting into the air is considered normal?" Aamira asked.

"Good point."

"There's actually a lot of places in here that I haven't explored yet." Ledian said. "There are traps everywhere in here, so there have been a few places where I haven't been able to go on my own."

"Well, let's go look around then." Aamira said. "Better than just sitting around here."

Aamira formed an Aura Sphere to use for light and Ledian lit the spots on his back. Between them and Quill's fire, it was a lot brighter down there now. Ledian led them to the deepest part of the factory that he had been to. There was a large arc over a doorway. In the tunnel it led to, the ceiling was a lot higher than the other branching tunnels.

"Most of the traps to this point I've already deactivated, either by accident or on purpose, but by the time I had gotten to this point, I was so exhausted and I just got this really bad feeling about this corridor here." Ledian said.

Aamira's aura sensors on the sides of her head rose a little. "I don't sense anything out of the ordinary from in there."

The three of them hesitantly walked forward, looking around for any sign of danger. So far nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Of course, just when they thought that, something had to happen. They were maybe about a fourth of the way through the corridor when Quill stepped on a tile that sank underneath his foot.

"Run!" Ledian shouted.

The three of then ran towards the far end of the corridor. Aamira looked back to see sections of the walls closing in behind them. The worst part was that the sections of the walls were catching up to them. If they didn't make it in time, they would be smashed by the walls.

At the last second, they reached the door on the far end of the room and dove into it just as the last sections of the walls smashed together, completely blocking the corridor they had come through.

"I guess going to wait for someone by the trap door is out of the question now…" Aamira was still shaking from the close call. None of them even realized how tired they were from running all that way.

"Hey, Aamira." Quill said. "Look at this!"

Aamira turned away from the door and looked around at the room they were in. It was dimly lit by glowing blue crystals that were jutting out of the walls in places. Aamira vaguely remembered something like this in Vileplume's underground workshop in Vine City, except for some reason they didn't make Aamira's aura go out of control like last time, most likely because of all the training she had done since then.

On the opposite end of the room was a door like the one they had gone through before, but it was closed tightly and no doubt made the same way as the trapdoor; hard to open and for some reason locked from the wrong direction. Aside from the iron door, there didn't seem to be any other way out of the room.

Aamira noticed that over on one wall there didn't seem to be any crystals. Upon further inspection, it was actually a large mural. Unlike any others that had been left alone for a long time, this one had been preserved in this underground labyrinth.

Ledian flew up to a stone that was cut out of the wall in front of the mural. "There's some kind of writing here, but it's not in a language I recognize."

Aamira walked over and used Aura Sphere again for some extra light. "'Corridors of trials part 1: Chamber of Soul. The soul of any great artist must be vivid and with many contrasts. Why must one express one's anger with more anger? Perhaps there is, after all, more than one way of expressing oneself.'"

"That's what it says?" Quill asked. "What does that mean?"

"Contrasts?" Aamira asked. "That's like opposites, right? Like black and white?"

"I believe so." Ledian said. "It must have something to do with this mural here.

For the first time, Aamira really took the time to look at the mural for the first time. The entire wall was covered with hundreds of portraits of Azelf, all done in black and white. Each of the Azelf had various emotions, both positive and negative.

"If I remember correctly, and it's been a while so I might not, contrast is technically lights next to darks, not just opposites…. There!" Ledian flew up towards the top of the mural and touched two of the paintings of Azelf. Their pictures started to glow and they were suddenly filled with color. Ledian was startled and flew backwards in surprise, though Aamira and Quill were used to things like this happening by now.

"'The soul must be vivid and with many contrasts.' We must have to add the color to the contrasting pictures of Azelf." Aamira said.

"But how many are there?" Ledian asked.

"What about what the stone said?" Quill asked. "It seemed to say 'one' a lot."

Aamira went back to the stone and reread it. "You're right. The number one appears five times in here."

"But how is that possible?" Ledian said. "If they contrast then they would be in pairs, right? So why isn't it an even number?"

"Well, I think we actually have to find the contrasts. Since there are five contrasts, then that would technically mean that there are ten, but since they're right next to each other it shouldn't matter."

Ledian looked around for the other four pairs and eventually managed to find them all. After bringing back the color in the last pair, the wall started to glow and the entire picture regained its color and the light from the crystals increased, causing the entire room to glow.

There was a click from the iron door and it swung open revealing another corridor. The three of them looked between each other nervously and proceeded inside. Once inside the door slammed shut and they were thrown into darkness.

Aamira used Aura Sphere again for more light, but when she looked around she couldn't find Quill or Ledian. They had just disappeared without a trace.

She started walking, thinking that they would find each other eventually, and was careful about not activating anymore traps since this time she couldn't see the exit anywhere. It felt like she was wandering around in the darkness for a long time and there was no end in sight of the corridor.

"Aamira!"

Quill's voice was faint, but Aamira could still just barely hear it. She ran towards the sound as fast as she could. The voice grew louder until it sounded as if Quill was only a few feet from her.

She had finally run into one of the walls. Though she had completely lost her sense of direction, it was good to see anything aside from the pitch blackness. But it wasn't only the wall that she found; there was also Quill cowering against it as if he were afraid that if he wandered away from it he would drop into the darkness.

"Are you alright?" Aamira asked.

"I'm okay…" Quill said. Something didn't seem right here though. Maybe Quill wasn't as okay as he thought.

"Where's Ledian?" Aamira asked.

"I don't know. He disappeared too. And when I saw you weren't there, I was so scared. I didn't want to be alone."

'I didn't like being alone either…' Aamira thought. 'Wait, loneliness?'

"You know being alone is the one thing I really hate…" Aamira said to Quill. He nodded and wiped the tears out of his eyes. "But Quill? I don't know about him. Maybe he would panic at first, but he wouldn't start crying or screaming for me the way you just did."

"Y-Yea…" Quill said with a nervous smile. "I guess I was a little out of character there…"

"I don't think that's it." Aamira said. "You're not Quill, are you? You're my fear."

Quill looked at her fearfully and backed away a little. "You could tell?"

Aamira nodded.

The Quill imposter laughed a little. "I guess maybe I'm not a perfect imitation after all, if you could figure it out."

"But that's the good thing about loneliness, right? It feels that much better being with friends and family once a person knows true loneliness." Aamira said.

The Quill imposter nodded. "Well done. Though I wonder, what did those other two see in the Chamber of Heart?" The imposter vanished in a blinding light that lingered for a while after he vanished. Right behind Aamira was the door she had gone through and two feet ahead of her was the exit. She laughed and wondered how she could have gotten lost in six cubic feet of space.

She pushed on the door and it opened easily. On either side of her were two similar doors where Ledian and Quill were just stepping out. They were in another room like the last one.

"Just out of curiosity," Aamira said to Quill. "What did you see?"

"You." Quill said. "You were saying that you wanted to go back to where you originally came from, but I knew that you wouldn't just want to leave us in the middle of something like this; you would want to help us get through here and make sure we were safe."

Aamira smiled. Apparently it was obvious what she had seen, because Quill didn't bother asking. Ledian had sort of a dreamy expression on his face. Whatever he had seen, it obviously made him happy.

"I saw Masquerain. That's the friend I was going to meet the day I washed up here." He said. "She said that she wanted to see me. I knew it was just an illusion, but it was still nice to see her again. I knew it wasn't her when she said that she was worried about me though."

"She wouldn't worry?" Quill asked.

"No, she wouldn't." he said. "She has more confidence in me than that. When I finally get to Aequor, she'll probably scold me for breaking the record of the length of time that someone was late to get somewhere. I kind of look forward to her scolding me like that."

They looked around at the room they were in now. There wasn't a door, just a large mural similar to the last one on the opposite wall. Technically, there was a door, but it was in the painting. In the painting there was a long city street and a Mesprit was flying through the door, beckoning to whoever might view the picture. Like in the last room, there was a stone in front of the mural.

"'Corridors of trials part 2: Chamber of Heart. The heart of any great artist knows to love what they do. But I wonder, is there enough space in one's heart to love two things? Is it possible to truly love someone and art at the same time and still be able to follow their heart down the right path?' Okay, this one's confusing. I mean, I guess there was a space distortion of some sort in the last corridor, but what does that have to do with art? And follow the right path?"

"I believe 'space' is actually another art term." Ledian said. "It's like perception of depth. Like how in this picture the path goes back to the door."

"Wait, path?" Quill said. "'Follow the right path'. Could that mean this path here?" Quill went to touch the path on the painting, but his paw never made contact with the wall. He jumped back in surprise. "Did you see that? That IS a painting, isn't it?"

"I think so…" Aamira reached out to the painting and the same thing happened. "There's a door in the painting. Mesprit is beckoning us through it. Mesprit represents emotions, which are usually represented by the heart. So to 'follow our hearts down the right path' we need to follow Mesprit through that door."

"Simple enough." Ledian said. "I think I'm starting to see a pattern with this place. In the first corridor we had to be brave and run through there while in danger and we ended up in the Chamber of Soul where Azelf's mural was. Azelf represents bravery. In the last corridor we had to trust our hearts, as cheesy as it sounds, to be able to get out of there and we ended up in the Chamber of Heart, which was represented by Mesprit."

"Oh, so next must be the Chamber of Mind." Aamira said. "And in the next room there should be a mural of Uxie. However… since Uxie governs intelligence then the next corridor and chamber might be a lot harder to get through. I just hope we don't get split up again."

Aamira put her hand through the painting again and walked onto the city street. It was the weirdest thing she had ever experience, walking through a painting. The city looked real, but at the same time, it didn't. The only difference from the view on the outside was that the buildings looked three dimensional and Mesprit wasn't there.

The three of them stopped nervously in front of the door and pulled it open a bit hesitantly with the iron ring attached to it. Behind it was another corridor just like the others. The door closed behind them, but this time they weren't separated.

They walked towards the door on the other side of the corridor, being careful about activating any traps, and stopped in front of it. The door that led to the next chamber had a sort of circular keyhole and in front of it were four spheres, red, blue, green, and yellow, that looked like they would fit into it.

"Simple enough." Aamira said. "Four keys, only one opens the door. The other three most likely trigger some sort of trap though.

"So how do we know which one is the right one?" Quill asked.

Ledian remained silent while he thought about the problem himself while the other two continued to talk about it.

"Red, blue, green, and yellow are usually thought of as the four main types of pokemon, right?" Aamira asked.

Quill nodded. "And of the four of them, fire, water, and grass are supposed to be equal since fire is strong against grass and weak against water, water is strong against fire and weak against grass, and grass is strong against water and weak against fire. That would leave electricity on its own. It's strong against water, but other than that it doesn't really fit in with the others."

"So it's this one?" Aamira picked up the yellow sphere and walked to the door.

"Wait, don't!" Ledian's warning came too late. Aamira placed the sphere in the door and was immediately shocked with a bolt of electricity and thrown across the floor while the yellow sphere rolled out of the keyhole.

"Why does that always happen?" Aamira said as she got up weakly off of the floor. "I hate electricity!"

"At least we were right about the element thing." Quill said.

"I don't think so." Ledian said. "I think that the only reason the colors are the same as the four main elements is because they represent the traps they would set off. Like how the yellow sphere set of an electric type trap."

"So how would we go about solving this if the answer doesn't have anything to do with the element types?" Aamira asked.

"Well look at it this way." Ledian said. "Why put a type puzzle in a test that has, so far, been all about art? I think what we need to look at here are the colors."

"The colors?" Quill asked.

Ledian nodded. "Red, blue, and yellow are the three primary colors, whereas green is a secondary color made from mixing blue and yellow. It also happens to be positioned between the blue and yellow spheres. So the one that really doesn't belong with the others is the green sphere."

"You really know a lot about art." Aamira said.

"I never really thought about it before, but I suppose I do." Ledian flew over to the pedestal where the green sphere was, picked it up, and placed it into the keyhole. The sphere started to glow and Ledian flinched as if expecting a vine to come out of the door and smack him in the face. Instead, the glow from the sphere traveled through the seams between the doors and they heard a lock click open on the other side.

They reached out to the medal rings and pulled the door open. They had made it into the next chamber.

This one looked a lot like the Chamber of Soul. There was a door on the wall opposite them, which had another circular lock, and a mural on the wall to the right with an engraved stone in front. Aamira ran over to read the text on the stone, as usual.

"'Corridors of trials part 3: Chamber of Mind. The mind of any great artist is colorful and complex. But I wonder, is it possible for a complex mind to be painted in every color? Or maybe the type of person they'll grow into is determined at birth?' I had a feeling it would be another color puzzle."

Ledian nodded and looked at the mural. This mural was covered in Uxie, each with a different colored head. There was only one on the wall that was the same color as the real Uxie. The way they were arranged in a circle and all chasing after each other, aside from the black one in the middle which was completely stationary and had a ruby in its head that was a perfect circle. All of the Uxie together looked like a rainbow.

"It's a color wheel." Ledian said. "Not just a color wheel though. It shows primary and secondary colors as well as tertiary colors, shades, and tints. Towards the center of the wheel the colors get darker and on the outside they get lighter. This must have taken a long time to paint. The mixed colors are the perfect blends of the primary colors as well as the mixtures of blacks and whites in the shades and tints. It really is impressive."

"Can you figure this one out?" Quill asked.

"The yellow Azelf is the right color, but is it the right answer?" Aamira asked. "In the riddle it was asking if a person's type was determined at birth. Maybe this one does have to do with type."

"You just don't want him to choose the yellow one because you might get shocked again." Quill said. Aamira laughed a little nervously.

"Either way, I think you might be right this time." Ledian said. "Uxie is a psychic type. Psychic types are represented by pink, so it should be this one here." Ledian flew up and touched the pink one, but nothing happened.

"That's not it?" Ledian said. "But that's how all of the other puzzles worked. A trap didn't even go off."

Quill looked at the color wheel for a moment and realized that in between the different layers of the wheel were notches. Then he realized that the black Uxie in the middle had both of its tails pointing downwards. Why was that?

Quill pushed on one of the sections of the wheels and it turned. "I think we have to get the types lined up with the tails of the Uxie in the center."

"Ah, I see." Ledian turned the row with the pink Uxie until it was lined up with the two tails. Immediately he was thrown across the room by a psychic wave from the ruby in the black Uxie's forehead.

"Are you okay?" Aamira asked.

"Yes, but what did I do wrong this time?" He asked.

"I don't know." Aamira said. "But black is usually used to represent death or danger, so I think we should be more careful about this in the future."

"I think I figured it out." Quill said. "In the other puzzles, it was the artist who had to find the contrasting Azelf and the artist who had to follow Mesprit through the door. Maybe we don't have to line it up with Uxie's type, but with OUR types."

"You think so?" Aamira said.

Quill turned the wheel until red, the color for fire, lined up with the tails. Immediately they heard a lock click behind the wall.

"Brilliant!" Ledian said. "But… how does it know?"

"This is a candy factory!" Aamira reminded him.

"Right." He said. "After all of this, it shouldn't surprise me that none of this makes any sense. It doesn't even make sense how the puzzles make sense." He flew up to the color wheel and lined up the light blue, for flying, and yellow green, for bug. Two more locks that clicked behind the wall.

Aamira was last. She stepped up, trying to remember which color represented fighting types, and moved the first shade of red into position with the other four. A fourth lock clicked behind the wall and the ruby fell out of the black Uxie's head.

"I guess this is the key?" Quill picked it up and went to put it in the door. The lock clicked and the door swung open, leading into another corridor.

"This was supposed to be the last one, right?" Aamira asked. "So what's this corridor?"

"Well we have to keep going." Ledian said. "It's the only way we might find an exit. I'm sure the owner of this place at least… wait, what if the owner was a psychic or a ghost type and he could just phase out or teleport?"

"Well we won't know until we get to the end." Aamira said. "None of this makes sense anyway so there might be a door at the back for all we know.

"Right, so let's get going." Quill said.

The three of them walked through and towards the door at the opposite end. But this time instead of a trap or a puzzle, they found a pokemon, standing there waiting for them.

"You… managed to get this far?" he was a white pokemon with an oddly shaped head and a long tail that ended in what looked like a paint brush. They recognized it immediately as a Smeargle.

"I-It's a ghost!" Quill said.

"No, I don't think so." Ledian said. "It's just a Smeargle. It's a really artistic pokemon, which explains all of the puzzles. But I don't think it's real."

"I'm not… real…?" Smeargle asked.

"No, I don't think this is the real owner of this place." Ledian said. "Smeargle can use the move Sketch, which make a copy of their enemy so that they can use one of the enemy's attacks. This Smeargle is just a really realistic drawing."

The Smeargle jumped at Ledian and hit him with Fire Punch. Ledian took a lot of damage and fell out of the air, clutching at the burn. "Just a drawing, am I? Nothing special, no different from any other sketches? You three aren't artists, you getting here was a fluke!"

"We're not artists…" Quill said. "We're just looking for a way out."

"Be careful!" Ledian said. "He's not an ordinary Sketch. They're only supposed to be able to use one move that the sketched pokemon could use. So the only move it should be able to use is Sketch."

"So how does it know Fire Punch?" Aamira asked.

"That's not all I can do." The Sketch opened its mouth and hit Quill with Hydro Pump. "Unlike any other pokemon, I'm not just limited to four moves either. And I don't have a weakness that a normal Smeargle would have. Tell me now that I'm just a Sketch!"

"I didn't mean to offend you…" Ledian said. "Please, we just want to get out of here. We'll leave you alone!"

"So that you can go back to the surface and tell people about me so they'll come down here to try to erase me?" He said. "That's not going to happen!"

"Please, we just came down here to investigate this place. We didn't mean to cause any trouble!" Aamira said.

The Sketch used Psychic and threw Aamira across the corridor. "Be quiet! I'm never letting you three leave here!"

"We don't have any choice…" Quill said. "We'll have to try to battle it."

The Sketch laughed. "Very well. You're move."

Quill used Flamethrower, hoping that a sketch would be something that burned, but the Sketch countered with a copy of Quill's Flamethrower, except it was more powerful. Quill was just lucky that he was a fire type, or he would have been in trouble.

Ledian used Comet Punch, but instead of copying his move, the Sketch used Supersonic. Ledian fell onto the ground and looked around trying to distinguish up from left. Supersonic was one of Ledian's moves, but apparently the Sketch didn't need to see them in order to copy them.

Aamira ran towards him as if about to use Aura Sphere. The Sketch did the same and threw an Aura Sphere at her, but at the last minute Aamira changed from using Aura Sphere to using the only move she thought might get them out of this situation; Sucker Punch. Maybe if it didn't have a weakness, it wouldn't have a resistance either.

The Aura Sphere rebounded towards the Sketch with the increased power of the Sucker Punch. Aamira's two strongest moves and the Sketch seemed too scared to move. Both attacks landed a direct hit and the Sketch was knocked into the door behind him.

The sketch laid limply on the ground, and, even though he was a drawing, he seemed to genuinely feel pain.

"Are you okay?" Aamira asked.

"Why do you care? Why do you fight so hard?" The Sketch asked. "You're not artists, so what keeps you going?"

"Well, maybe we are artists." Quill said. "I don't know what Ledian likes to do, but Aamira and I are an Investigation Team. We might not know anything about art, but the fact that we got this far must prove that we're just as passionate about what we do as any artist is at what they do."

"Yea." Aamira said. "An art might not always be something like drawing or painting. To us, Investigating is our art."

"I see…" The Sketch said. "I should have listened to the Creator. He felt the same way. I never considered what he did to be an art, but he obviously saw it that way. You are artists. I might have the soul and heart of an artist, but I guess my mind just wasn't as colorful as yours."

They watched in surprise as the Sketch started to disintegrate.

"What's happening to him?" Ledian asked as he finally snapped out of his confusion.

"I am, after all, a Sketch. Maybe not any ordinary Sketch, but a Sketch nonetheless. And after a Sketch fulfills its purpose, the Sketch… disappears."

"Well that's hardly fair!" Quill said. "You finally see things our way and you have to disappear?"

The Sketch nodded. "That's how it is, unfortunately. My purpose was to teach artists in the place of my Creator. There's nothing left for any of you to learn, so I've fulfilled my purpose."

"But you're alive, aren't you?" Aamira asked. "You feel pain and emotions like anyone else does, so how can you disappear like any other sketch?"

"I am alive." The sketch said. "I'm alive, because that's how the Creator saw me. I'm happy that I was drawn by him and no one else. Fulfilling our duty is the one purpose we Sketches serve. I have no regrets in disappearing now that I finally understand what it was I was supposed to do. But before then…" The Sketch picked up his tail and in the air painted a perfect iron key. "Use this key to move onto the last room. You deserve it."

The sketch disintegrated into small chips of paint and the iron key fell to the floor. Aamira went to pick it up and put it in the keyhole in the door behind where Sketch had been. As soon as the door was unlocked, the key vanished the same way the Smeargle Sketch had.

Aamira pushed open the door. Instead of another Chamber, they entered an old workshop. It looked like this must have been the real Smeargle's private study. There were wooden carvings all over as well as drawings and paintings and bookshelves that lined the walls. Some of the books were opened on the floor. All of them seemed to be hand written.

In the back of the room was a desk. Above the desk was a large framed canvas with only a single small paw print in the very center. On the desk was what looked like a diary. Unlike the other books, which were all written in their language, this one was written in the old language that Aamira could read, probably to guarantee privacy.

"'I was scared to grow up.'" Aamira read. "'Upon becoming an adult, I would have had that ugly footprint stamped onto my back. I would have been marked forever as an adult, but I didn't want to be. I'm still a kid at heart. I know this because it's reflected in my paintings and drawings. I'm not ready to grow up yet. I've decided to run away from home. I'll go far away from Pacis to the country of fire across the sea. They'll never find me there. I'll amaze everyone in Ignis with my art. I'll be more famous than any marked Smeargle ever was.' I kind of feel sorry for this guy. He was hiding here so he wouldn't have to grow up?" Aamira turned to the next entry in the diary.

"'I've finally made it to Ignis and, to my delight, it's customary for a person to make their own houses. I'll make myself a mansion! And it will all be underground! I'll fill it with art and maybe some day it will be as famous as the underground museum I went to once in Sylva."' She turned to the next entry.

"'No one here likes my art! Why? Is it that bad? I wondered. But when I looked back at what I had made before I came here, it really is that bad. My skills have become rusty and I have no idea why. Is it possible that I've done what artists fear most? Is it possible that I have… lost my inspiration? I don't want to go outside ever again. I don't want anyone to see the face of such a failure.'

"'I saw some kids outside today playing near one of the vents. Every now and then the vents get covered with volcanic ash and I have to climb up to clean them out. Just as I was wondering if a duster was all my tail was good for anymore, I noticed them.

"'They were all gathered around trying to decide who would be "it" first in their game of tag. I couldn't help but smile. This was what I used to do with all of my friends back in Pacis. But then I realized. I had grown up. I thought running away would help me prevent that, but I grew up regardless. No wonder my art is terrible now. I was so focused on staying a kid that I hadn't realized that that's what turned me into an adult. Maybe I should go back and get the paw print stamped onto my back.'

"'I can't go back home. I realize that now. After a few days of packing, I was ready to go back home. I regularly checked up on the kids anyway. I was afraid that one of them might get hurt or something, and I worried about them a lot. Funny, isn't it? I don't even really know them and here I am worried about them.

"'As it turns out, I did have a reason to worry. A few days ago I noticed that one of the kids was missing. I found out that she had become seriously ill and that the herbs needed to cure her weren't found naturally in Ignis. If someone didn't so something, she would die. Luckily, I had been growing just the herbs she needed down here in my workshop. I usually ground them up to mix into paints, but this was more important. After harvesting the seeds to grow some more, I picked the last of the herbs and delivered them to her house anonymously. The next day, she was back with her friends again. From a distance it's hard to hear what they say, but one thing I did hear was that she wished that she knew who it was that helped her. Helping to make those kids happy again made me happy. I'm now drawing and painting better than I ever have before.'

"'I saw those kids argue for the first time today. It didn't seem like a little argument either. The kid that I had saved was accused of stealing something from one of the others. The one she had apparently stolen from was so mad that he actually said that he wished that she had died! This was too much for me. I ran back down into my workshop and painted them a picture of when they were still friends. I hoped that seeing it would make them be friends again.

"'I went to the surface to show them the painting I had made for them, but before I had the chance they noticed me and ran away screaming. I stood their dumbfounded for a moment and then started to laugh. Of course! I was the old hermit who lived in the haunted house that everyone was afraid of as a kid. There was an old house back in Pacis like that too. I know now that the old lady living there was just a normal pokemon like anyone else. I hope I get to see her again one day to apologize for throwing the rock through her window. I feel really bad about that now.

"'One good thing that did come out of this though was that all of the kids were so scared of me that they immediately forgot what they had been fighting about. I found out later that the one who was missing his item found it under his bed a few days later. It hadn't been stolen after all. That's good.'

"'It's been a while since my last entry. My art is selling for pretty high prices now. I have a Pelliper working for me now to deliver them across the ocean. I'm pretty well off because of those kids. I found that I'm especially good at drawing the Legendary pokemon. The first one I sold was a portrait of Moltres, which I sold to the Elder of Ignis. Isn't that something? I really wanted to repay those kids somehow, but how? They wouldn't be interested in art. There must be something I could do.'

"'I found some Tamato berries in my garden earlier that day. Pelliper must have tracked some seeds in from outside when coming to deliver my pay for the last painting. I started to pull them up when I noticed a sort of peppery scent coming from them. It wasn't the berries themselves, it was the leaves! I began to wonder if the leaves were edible along with the berries. As it turns out, they were! They're not as spicy as the berries either.

"'I started to wonder. The kids were fire types. They liked spicy food, so maybe I could make some sort of treat for them. I started experimenting with the berries and the leaves of the Tamato plant and found a way to ground it up into a sort of paste that would harden in high temperatures. Soon I had developed an experimental candy. When I tried one, however. OWCH! That was the spiciest candy I had ever tasted. I actually burnt my tongue on the spice alone. Fire types might like spice, but it was all they ever ate. There must be something else I could do to make it stand out above any other type of food they would eat on a daily bases. I'm still looking for a way around that.'

"'I've made a breakthrough! And it's all thanks to Pelliper! Last night I was commissioned by the museum owner in Sylva to paint a portrait of some new Hall of Famers named Team Overgrow.' Wow! Smeargle painted the portrait of Team Overgrow! 'On his way back, Pelliper stopped at one of the neighboring cities and used part of his cut to buy some honey. They were having a sale so he got twice the amount and decided to bring me half of it.

"'I can't remember the last time I tasted something so sweet! It was exactly what I was looking for! I made a new batch of candy, but before firing the Tamato paste, I froze the honey to go in the center and painted the paste onto the honey with my tail. After I fired it I painted some more honey on top of it and flambéed it until it was nearly burnt in places. The red Tamato paste and the singed honey looked just like lava when it was starting to cool. I've decided to call this new type of candy "Lava Rock Candy". They taste good to me, but I hope the kids will like them.'

"'Today I went back outside with a bag full of my new candy. At first the kids were going to run away again, but then one of them, a Houndour with an extremely sensitive nose, happened to smell the candy. He said it didn't smell like anything he had ever smelled before. I gave him one of the candies and his friends watched in fear, thinking that I might have poisoned it or something. But he liked it! Soon all of his friends were asking for some and I gave them the whole bag to share. They ate some cheerfully and thanked me before running off to share some with their parents back home. I feel like I've finally found a way to repay them for helping with my art. I can live happily now.'

"'Their parents liked it too! They really could tell what I was trying to do with the candy. The overwhelming spiciness which represents the overwhelming pain and hardships that one had to go through while growing up, and the subtle sweetness of a person's inner child that would hopefully never go away. They all loved it!

"'I had to make more today, which was a bit problematic. I can only use Sketch four times a day, so using the right attacks to make the candy can be difficult. But then I had an idea. Why not make a sketch that can use sketch? It had been attempted, but it had never been done before, but this one would work for sure! It had to! Sure enough, after the third attempt, it worked! I made a Sketch copy of myself who can use Sketch as well as I can and a lot more often than I can. The only problem is that he doesn't understand that it's not just candy. He doesn't see it as a form of art like I do. I hope he figures it out one day. That way maybe he can teach all of the kids about art when they get older.'

"'I haven't written in over a year now. I've been terribly sick. It started last year when I started to feel a little light headed and nauseous. I decided to pay Chansey a visit. At first she though I was there to donate more candy for the younger patients who were usually too scared to go to the doctors, but then she noticed that something was terribly wrong. My worst fear has been confirmed. I've developed a serious allergy to Tamato berries. It's extremely rare, but I had been suspecting it for a while. I promised to stay away from any Tamato berries, but of course I couldn't. They say an artist must suffer for their work, and now that's what I'm doing. There's no other way to make the Lava Rock candy, so I'll continue to use the Tamato berries, even if the allergy continues to worsen, as Chansey said it would.'

"'I don't have much time left now. It's getting harder and harder to breathe. Sketch, if you're reading this, could you keep making the candy in my place? I know you don't understand it, but this is extremely important to me. You're a drawing, so you don't have to worry about developing an allergy. Just make sure that everyone stays happy. Don't let their happiness die with me.

"'I've figured out the reason behind the paw print. The paw print is always given to a Smeargle who comes of age by their best friend. Sometimes, though rarely, the paw print isn't even that of another Smeargle. I realize now, age doesn't matter. Just because I became an adult doesn't mean that I couldn't have fun. I've had a lot of fun making the candy, even if it was what would kill me in the end. Sketch, this is why I asked you to give me your paw print earlier today. I'll leave this diary out for you. By the time you've read it, I'll most likely be gone. But first, I think I'll go back to the surface. I want to watch the sunset.'"

"He died in order to make the candy?" Ledian said. "I know some artists are passionate, but that's a bit much."

"Not to him, it wasn't. But I wonder if Sketch even knew how to read this language? It would explain why he never made the candy." Aamira said. "I feel kind of bad now. Sketch wasn't just a Sketch, but the candy wasn't just candy either. I wish I could take it back." She flipped to the back of the book. "Look at this! It's the entire process he used to make the Lava Rock candy! He must have written it all down for Sketch!"

"We found it!" Quill said. "But… How do we get out of here?"

"I think I know." Aamira walked up to the canvas with the paw print in the center. She pressed the paw print and the painting slid aside revealing a hidden staircase.

"Finally!" Ledian said. "I can finally get out of here!"

Ledian flew ahead and Quill and Aamira followed after grabbing Smeargle's diary. They would grant his last wish to make sure the candy was still being made. And now it would be made the right way.

Aamira and Quill and the other pokemon all waited impatiently for it to finish. Charmeleon volunteered to be the first to try to make it using Smeargle's method. Luckily there were a few Spheal living off shore of the islands, so the necessary ice type move wasn't too hard to find.

Charmeleon reduced the heat of his Ember as the honey started to singe and on the medal tray were fifty perfectly made candies. Quill picked one up and put it in his mouth. His arm dropped slowly to his side and she stared off into the distance.

"What I was eating before was NOT Lava Rock candy! This puts whatever that was to shame! It's the best thing I've ever tasted!"

Everyone rushed forward to try the new type of candy. Some of them were old enough to remember what it had used to taste like and were glad to have their old candy back.

"It really isn't just candy after all." Aamira picked up one of the candies, much to everyone's horror, and put it in her mouth. She cringed for a moment and her eyes watered a little, but she was able to eat it a lot easier than the last one. "After getting past the spiciness… these really aren't half bad."


	38. Chapter 38 Togekiss Unmasked

No one could believe what they were seeing. There had been one sided battles in tournaments before, but nothing like this. Roy had been using every attack and every strategy that he had ever learned. He used his abilities as much as possible and used just about every ounce of strength he had. But then why was this happening? Hunter hadn't been doing much at all the entire battling. He dodged, for the most part and every now and then would attack back, but he never had to use any actual moves against Roy.

It was almost as if Hunter was just playing with him. He didn't seem entirely thrilled to be in the tournament to begin with, even though he had entered by special means. It was obvious from the moment the battle started who would win and Roy was terrified. One other thing that was for certain was that an audience had never been this quiet before.

Roy attacked Hunter with Quick Attack, but Hunter lazily dodged to the side. Roy attacked from behind with Force Palm, but Hunter grabbed his arm and threw him into the wall. A few people sitting in those seats immediately backed away out of fear of what happened during the last battle, but the damage this time around was minimal.

Roy fell to the ground clutching his ribs. He was hurt pretty badly and Hunter was just standing there as if he were waiting for someone who was running late and starting to get irritated with them.

"I give up…" Roy finally said. "I can't win like this…"

"It looks like Roy has forfeited the match." Charmeleon said. "The winner of the first match is Hunter."

No one in the crowd said anything. They were just as terrified of Hunter as Roy had been. Hunter walked out of the stadium as if nothing big had happened. Obviously he wasn't about to bother with sticking around for the next match. Though they weren't entirely sure, both Quill and Aamira thought that they noticed him glance up at them as he left the stadium.

Just as Chansey was helping Roy to his feet, the ground started to shake and everyone screamed and held onto their seats. The shaking didn't stop for quite some time and even when it did stop it was hard to tell.

"That's the worst earthquake we've had in quite some time." Ninetales said while shaking her tails to try to get the fur to lay flat again. "I remember when the ground used to stay steady under our feet all the time!"

Everyone waited for Charmeleon to say something. He finally spoke after a few minutes. "There will be a fifteen minute break before the next battle to asses any damage done by the earthquake."

"That's good." Aamira said. "I didn't want to miss your battle, but I wanted to go check on Roy. I'm worried about him after that battle with Hunter."

Quill nodded. "I'll go too."

He was in even worse shape than they thought. According to Chansey, he broke quite a few ribs and fractured one of his arms. For a pokemon, this was no big deal. Normally an injury like that could heal in a couple of weeks at the most. The real injuries happened on an emotional level.

Eventually Chansey left to check on someone who had apparently gotten sick in town, leaving the three of them alone to talk about the previous battle. Even when they first walked into the room, Quill and Aamira could see how badly Roy was shaking even from a distance.

"I never thought that anyone could be that strong…" he said. "What kind of training does someone go through to get to be like that? I don't even think I'd want to know."

"Apparently he spent a lot of time tracking down and challenging legendary pokemon." Aamira said. "Just a while ago, when we found Moltres, Hunter had already defeated her in a battle by the time we got there."

Roy was so tense. He kept looking around as if thinking that Hunter would suddenly appear out of thin air. "I can believe it. He wasn't even trying. I knew from the first time I saw him that I wasn't really a match for him, and yet I didn't forfeit like I should have when we were matched against each other…"

"Well we can't let him win just by forfeiting whenever he's matched up against someone." Quill said. "I guess it doesn't matter now though, since he's going on to the semi finals."

Aamira crossed her arms and swayed uneasily from foot to foot. "I don't like this. He's got to be up to something…"

Chansey came back in carrying a sick Turtwig in her arms followed by a few more pokemon carrying some others, all of which seemed to be suffering from the same illness.

"This is the worst one so far…" Chansey muttered to herself as she laid the Turtwig on one of the beds.

"Hey, what's going on?" Quill asked.

Chansey took the time to put a wet cloth on the Turtwig's head before turning to them. "Lately there's been some sort of toxin in the water. We think that it might have been in an underground spring that ruptured when the earthquakes started. It would make sense, since this started up again so soon after that last one… The problem is that we don't know what they've been poisoned with, so pokemon that have to stay near fresh water, like this Turtwig, are in serious danger of going near the springs."

"Hey maybe Sandshrew has an idea of what to use to cure them." Roy seemed to have forgotten all about his match with Hunter at the sight of all of the sick pokemon.

Chansey nodded. "He's currently working with Eevee on finding a cure."

"It's too bad that we already gave away the Phione Dew that the Phione gave us before we left." Aamira said. "Not that it would be enough to cure everyone anyway."

"Well Delibird really deserved it!" Quill said. "He really risked a lot to deliver us that message about Manaphy, and he got fired because of it! The only reason he even had that job in the first place was to get money for the medicine his mom needed, so without that Phione Dew, she could have died."

Aamira looked around at all of the poisoned pokemon. They were all breathing heavily and seemed to be barely conscious. It almost felt as if she were the one poisoned by seeing them in this state. Lately it really seemed like the world had turned upside down. Hunter working with Honchkrow, the cheerful Togekiss a ruthless fighter, and now pokemon being poisoned just for doing what they needed to in order to survive.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" She asked.

Chansey shook her head. "No, unfortunately. Luckily it's not a fast acting poison. Eevee should be able to find a cure for it before anyone gets into any serious danger, but they'll still be suffering terribly until then. Normally we wouldn't need any help from Eevee. There are many toxic fumes in the volcanoes around the island and many poison types live in caves around the rims. Poison isn't uncommon, so we have a few teams of Poochyena who can smell the specific types of poison in air, water, or on a person's breath if they happen to swallow or inhale it. Unfortunately, this poison is completely odorless, so we're in a bad spot for the time being."

Quill and Aamira stood in silence for a while, wondering what they could possibly do to help, while Chansey ran around to each of the sick pokemon doing whatever she could to comfort them and their friends and family.

"Hey." Roy finally said to break the silence. "Don't let Hunter win, alright? And knock Togekiss out of the competition too while you're at it."

The two of them smiled and nodded and headed back down into the stadium. For the time being, it was all they could do.

Ninetales had been waiting for Quill on the battlefield and was wagging her tails impatiently and clawing at the ground to make her claws sharper.

"Finally here, are you? Did you forget which round you were fighting in again?" She asked.

"No, I was just visiting Roy with Aamira…" It had just occurred to Quill that he never actually paid much attention to one of her battles. He figured that she would use a lot of fire type attacks, which would at least make them even.

As soon as their battle started, Ninetales stood up into a pouncing position and straightened her usually curled tails up to their full length. The way she stood with her tails fanned out made her look a lot bigger and more intimidating than she had ever before to Quill. He figured since Ignis had won the previous year that they would be a bit more relaxed about this. This was the first time that Quill realized that she was really serious about this.

"Quill, snap out of it!" Aamira shouted from her front row seat.

Ninetales's tails each started to glow a light blue color and some strange ghostly rings shot from the tips of her tails and headed in Quill's direction. He dodged and the rings scattered and changed direction, attacking him from behind. Quill managed to keep dodging for a while, but eventually one of them hit. After the first one hit, the other eight quickly attached forming some sort of chain around his waste. He braced himself for whatever this strange attack would do, but it didn't do any noticeable harm to him whatsoever.

"Quill is looking around confused, not knowing what to expect from this attack." Charmeleon said. "It would seem that he's not the sort who would research his opponent before the battle; otherwise he would have known about Ninetales's signature move, Imprison."

"Imprison…?" Quill had heard of this attack somewhere before, in school perhaps, but he couldn't remember what exactly it was supposed to do. Either way, Ninetales had sat on the ground and lowered her guard. Now was the time to counter attack.

The fire on Quill's back flared up. He readied a Flamethrower, but just as he was about to attack, the fire on his back sputtered and went out. "What!" Quill tried to shake off the shock of what had just happened and leapt at the ground to use dig. Just as his paws came into contact with the ground, the chain around his waste yanked him back and he landed on the ground.

'Wait, I remember now what Espeon said back when I was in school…' he thought to himself. 'Imprison is a dangerous move that can seal the attacks of the pokemon it's used on as long as those attacks are also… are also what? What was that last part!'

As much as he struggled to remember back to then, he couldn't remember anything past that point. At least he knew that the attack did have a limitation, even though he had no idea what it was, so surely at least one of his attacks must be able to work.

"Are you giving up already? You haven't moved in almost two minutes." Ninetales said lazily.

"N-No! Of course not!" Quill rolled up into a ball and used Roll Out. Just as his attack was about to hit, he was thrown back by some unseen force. It was so powerful that it made him hit the stadium wall on the opposite side of the battle field.

Quill struggled to stand back up. Whatever it was that hit him was powerful. Ninetales didn't even flinch; she was sitting in the same position as she bad been since using Imprison.

'Great, now what do I do?' Quill said to himself. 'I can't use Flamethrower or Dig because of Imprison, and I can't use Rollout because of whatever that last attack was. The only thing I have left is Sunny Day. I thought if I used Sunny Day my Flamethrower would be strong enough beat hers, but there's no point if I can't even use it. I'll just be powering up her fire type attacks!'

Just as he was thinking about her Flamethrower, he remembered the last part of Imprison's description. "Imprison is a dangerous move that can seal the attacks of the pokemon it's used on as long as those attacks are also known by the pokemon using Imprison. A lot of good that will do me now."

Hoping that Imprison would eventually wear off, Quill jumped into the air and used Roll Out again, only to get the same result.

"Imprison sure has a fitting name." Luxray said. He was one of the few competitors who returned to witness the battle. With good reason too since he lost to Quill. "It pains me to see such a fierce competitor trapped like this. Imprison keeps him from using his two best attacks and he gets thrown back by Extrasensory every time he uses Roll Out. I can't see a way out of this one."

"He'll think of something!" Aamira said confidently. "I know he will!"

"I just don't see any way he could get out of this one. Unless you've thought of something I haven't?"

Aamira crossed her arms. Truthfully, she could see a way she could get out of a situation like this, but it really looked like Quill was stuck here. "Being a dark type puts you at a disadvantage on a matter like this. Psychic type attacks don't affect you so you don't have to worry. I, on the other hand, have to constantly worry about them being a fighting type. Recently I got an item that canceled out the effect of psychic types and at the same time I had been learning a technique that can use an enemy's power against them. That technique, even if I didn't have that item with me, would make dealing with psychic types much easier."

"But he doesn't have an item like that and, from the sound of it, he doesn't know that technique either."

Aamira nodded. "I explained the theory to him before, and he saw me use a couple of attacks associated with that technique, but he doesn't know any attacks like that."

By this time Quill had tried Roll Out several more times, but to no avail. It didn't look like Imprison was going to wear off, so he was left without his two best attacks and, in turn, left without a strategy.

He bent over, gasping for breath and trying to recover from the pain of the powerful psychic attack. 'If only Roll Out was a little stronger… Unfortunately, the only way to make it stronger is to make the attack hit and keep attacking repeatedly and I can't do that if she's going to keep using Extrasensory.'

It was then that he had an idea. It would be risky, but it was his only chance. Ninetales knew both Dig and Flamethrower he knew, since Imprison had kept him from using those attacks. That meant that he knew all four of her attacks now; Flamethrower, Dig, Imprison, and Extrasensory. Flamethrower, being a fire type attack, wasn't too effective on a fire type like himself, which was probably why she wasn't using it. But then why wasn't she using Dig? She had been sitting still in that one position ever since using Imprison and hadn't used a single attack other than Extrasensory. From this, he could only conclude that the reason she didn't move was because she COULDN'T move. He remembered Espeon once saying that psychic type attacks like Imprison required intense discipline and focus. The reason she couldn't move was because once she did her focus would have shifted just enough for the attack to fail and then Quill would be able to use his attacks again.

In order for this to work, he had two options; attack from long range, which he knew was impossible with his move set, or attack directly, which was also close to impossible. From this he was able to come up with a somewhat sketchy plan, but he had no other choice. The worst part was that it meant rushing in without using any sort of attack.

Quill didn't have any other options. He rolled up again and used Roll Out to build up as much speed and power as he could muster. Just like before, he was hit with Extrasensory, but unlike before, he didn't try to resist it. As soon as he was hit with the blast of Psychic energy, he straightened his body into a more aerodynamic position and headed towards the wall. A few people shouted in alarm and a few moved away from the wall he was headed towards. Just as Quill was about to hit the wall, he turned in mid air, managed to jump off of the wall, and headed straight towards Ninetales.

She hadn't seen it coming and at the speed he was moving, she didn't have time to heighten her focus enough to use Extrasensory again. There was a reason she had always waited until he was just about to reach her with Rollout; keeping one Psychic attack going while using another was nearly impossible to pull off. This time, she didn't have time to focus. She quickly dodged to the side, thinking it was more important to keep from getting injured than to lose control of Imprison.

Just as he thought, as soon as Ninetales moved, the chain around Quill's waste glowed and disappeared. He twisted in the air and angled towards the ground, burrowing into it instantly. Ninetales jumped back in surprise. She hadn't expected him to pull off something like this. Her dodging had only gotten her into a worse situation.

Quill resurfaced right underneath her feet and landed a direct hit and immediately switched into using Rollout. After so many attempts, he finally managed to land a hit with Rollout. He managed to hit Ninetales two more times before she finally calmed down enough to manage to dodge out of the way, causing Quill to hit the wall and stop.

"How did you do that!" Ninetales asked frantically. Quill had never seen her shaking nervously or her fur standing on ends.

"My partner's a Riolu." He said somewhat cheerfully. "You know, they can run over an entire mountain range in a single day. I guess my legs just got stronger than most Cyndaquil's by matching my pace to hers. Jumping off of the wall using the combined power of Rollout and Extrasensory wasn't as difficult as I had expected it to be, though if I had gotten the angle wrong I could have ended up flying into the air and overshooting my attack or, even worse, I could have gone straight into the ground and probably would have been knocked out."

"Heh… I see…" Her voice shook slightly from her nerves. Being so flustered really didn't suit her well. At first, quite a few people had been cheering for Quill after seeing nothing but him getting tossed around the stadium like a rag doll the entire time and finally making a comeback, but now more people seemed to be worried about Ninetales.

"Hey, calm down, okay?" Quill said. "I'd like to finish the match, but I don't think I could attack like this and I definitely don't want to win by another surrender."

"Well, if you say so…" Ninetales attacked half heartedly. Attacks like the one's she was using weren't what Quill was used to; he was used to both him and his opponent giving their strongest attacks to win. Though it was somewhat awkward and a little difficult for him to do, Quill won the match after a few more minutes of fighting.

Ninetales hurried off of the battlefield as quickly as she could. Quill couldn't tell if she just wanted to go somewhere quiet to calm down, or if she was really embarrassed at losing to him. Either way, he felt pretty bad about it.

"Maybe you should go see if she's alright." Luxray said when Quill took a seat between him and Aamira.

"I don't know…" He said. "Maybe I should, but Aamira's battle with Togekiss is up next."

"You probably shouldn't bother her right now." Aamira said and she stretched out her arms. "I don't think she expected you to turn the battle around the way you did, so it's all a bit of a shock for her. After all it's because she lost that Ignis is out of the tournament. Just give her time to calm down before you go to talk to her."

Quill nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. In the mean time, do your best! Togekiss looks tough and you're at a disadvantage against a flying type."

"Don't worry about it." Aamira jumped over the wall onto the ground. "I'm not entirely interested in battling, to tell you the truth. I'll still battle, of course, but I'm more interested in getting as much information as I can about what she's up to."

She walked towards the center of the battlefield and Togekiss flew from her perch at the top of the stadium and landed in front of her.

"Now for the last match of the second round!" Charmeleon shouted. "Aamira versus Togekiss! After the last match, I can imagine that everyone is just as anxious as I am to see what will happen."

"So what's going on, anyway?" Aamira asked Togekiss. "Why did you put on that happy, innocent act when we first met?"

"To give a false impression." She said in a flat tone. "I know quite a bit about you, and I knew that you wouldn't be quick to trust a Bounty Hunter."

Aamira's eyes widened and she took a step back. A jolt of fear shot through her, blurring her vision slightly for a moment as she remembered that terrible situation she had been in a while back when she had met Honchkrow for the first time since their battle with Mismagius. Could that be true? Togekiss was a Bounty Hunter? If she was so good at giving false impressions about her character, it wouldn't surprise Aamira that she would easily be able to lure away unsuspecting pokemon.

Just then something from a while back crossed her mind. "You wouldn't happen to know a Togetic and Togepi, would you…?"

Togekiss smirked slyly. "They're the ones who told me about your team. Togetic and Togepi are my daughters."

"So even from back then, when we first found out about Team Night…" Aamira's voice was starting to shake a little. She couldn't imagine the situation getting much worse. "But wait, Togetic lured us into that trap in order to save Togepi, didn't she? She thought she didn't have any other choice!"

Togekiss ruffled her feathers and smiled angelically. "Sweet children, both of them. Just because I'm the mother doesn't mean that they're anything like me, though they're still obedient enough to pass along some information on skilled Investigation Teams. So ever since I've been waiting for this moment to come. Let's just say that when I defeat you, Chansey won't be the one dragging you out of the stadium. Don't worry though; I can guarantee that Quill will follow soon after. I'd have to get the complete set, after all."

"Wait, what do you mean 'complete set'?" Aamira looked around frantically for where their team members had been sitting the previous night. Their seats were reserved but they were empty and her teammates were nowhere to be seen. "Where are they?"

Togekiss smirked again. "Beat me and I'll tell you, though either way you'll find out eventually."

That idiot Machop always making out of place remarks, though they all knew he was actually really intelligent and well informed. Nuzleaf, who was so calm and strong willed unless he got into a situation where his friends were in trouble. Gengar, who was so far the only member of their team to evolve after joining who loved scaring them half to death in the dark. Glameow, the sly con artist who loved gamboling but constantly hid her real emotions. Aron, whose wish they had granted by inviting him to the team had become so much stronger since joining. Shuppet, who had only been with them for a short time… Aamira couldn't really imagine any of them giving up so easily; for all of them to have been captured, Togekiss's rogue team must be unbelievably strong.

Togekiss smiled sweetly and gave a little mock bow. "Let's not waste any time then, shall we?"

Togekiss shot up into the air with a motion and speed that seemed to completely defy the laws of gravity. She flew around in circles from a height where she was barely visible, almost like she was taunting Aamira with the inability to reach her. From that height, Aura Sphere might hit, but she was so high up that she would have an easy time of dodging. Aamira was at a huge disadvantage here.

'How's the tournament going?'

Quill looked around confused. A few people stared at him like he was crazy, but he was sure that he had heard Ruko's voice just then.

'Don't act so surprised; it's just telepathy. If you want to say anything, just say it in your head and I'll be able to hear it.' Ruko said.

'You made me look like I was insane!' Quill shouted back at Ruko.

Ruko chuckled. 'Most people look worse than you did; they actually start talking to themselves, not knowing that if they did that I wouldn't be able to hear them.'

'Well never mind that, I thought telepathy was really difficult to learn. So how did you do it?'

'Years of experience.' It seemed to Quill that Ruko was avoiding giving the real answer, but he just could never tell with this guy. 'That aside, how goes the tournament? I got caught up with something else and unfortunately won't be able to make it.'

'I won my match against Ninetales and now Aamira's fighting against Togekiss.' At this moment, Aamira was attacked by an abnormally powerful Air Slash. 'She doesn't seem to be doing too well.'

Ruko growled. 'Stubborn child. She really expects to beat Togekiss without her dark aura? This is no normal enemy. Either way, I wouldn't dare interfere with the proceedings, so we'll just hope she manages to figure something out.'

'Hey, Ruko? You come from the future, right?" Quill asked.

Even though they were speaking through their minds, Quill got a sense like Ruko had nodded.

'Well, things aren't exactly the same in this time as they were in your past, right? So who won in your world?'

Ruko seemed to be thinking about something important, but didn't answer. Something seemed a little apprehensive about his thoughts.

'Come on, you can tell me, can't you?' Quill asked.

Ruko's apprehensive feeling was getting stronger. 'I couldn't do that.'

'It's not like it would change anything. Even if it was me or Aamira in the world you came from, or even someone entirely different it might not be the same this time around, right? So why can't you tell me?'

'Understand that it's not because I don't want to tell you, it's because I can't. I couldn't possibly tell you because I couldn't know who would have won.'

'Would have…?'

'In my time, the islands of Ignis were destroyed some time after the second round ended.'

Quill nearly jumped in surprise. Luxray gave him a worried look, but Quill took no notice. He was just about to ask Ruko more about it, but his thoughts had grown quiet. It seemed like he had ended their telepathic communication. This was something Aamira had to know about as soon as possible, but with his heightened hearing Quill was able to hear what Togekiss had been whispering to Aamira. She just had to win against Togekiss and as soon as possible.

'Aamira really is stubborn, though.' Quill thought. 'Ruko said she has to use Sucker Punch, but there's no way she would.'

Aamira was really starting to hate this Togekiss. It was bad enough that she had taken their friends, but even worse was that every subtle movement of her wings sent her soaring through the air in such a carefree manor that she seemed to be mocking Aamira's inability to do anything to rescue them. She wouldn't say it directly, but Aamira had gotten the hint that if she tried to tell anyone from the audience about what was happening, Team Sleuth would be down at least one member. She had no choice but to go along with this rouse.

Togekiss flew higher into the air and used Sky Attack. Aamira just barely managed to avoid it, only to be hit with Extremespeed. Aamira coughed as she was hit directly in the stomach and nearly passed out.

Togekiss flew around her in circles at high speeds, the feathers of one of her wings just barely touching the ground causing dust to fly up into the air. "Is that the best that the leader of Team Sleuth can do? Aura Sphere is too good to use against you. I'll defeat you easily without it."

Aamira jumped up and blindly shot an Aura Sphere in Togekiss's direction. She managed to change direction just in time for the attack to barely graze her back and the back of her wings. She cringed and flew up into the sky. Aamira used another Aura sphere, which caught Togekiss on the very edge of her wing. The last one had apparently caused her a good deal of pain in her wings. She tumbled through the air before regaining her balance and flying out of Aamira's range.

"This isn't fair!" Quill said. "Aamira's bound to just the arena floor and Togekiss can fly wherever she wants!"

"That's just how it goes." Luxray said. "Of course, flying that high around my Thunder would be dangerous. Just because it's unfair in this situation doesn't mean it always would be."

"I know, but how can Aamira win like this? Unless she uses that one move, but she hates it!"

"'That' move?" Luxray turned towards him in surprise. "Aamira knows a move that no one else knows about?"

"It's a really strong punching move, but Aamira doesn't like to use it. Honestly though, I can't think of any way she could win without it."

Luxray turned back towards the battle, anxious to see this move of hers. Things were getting pretty heated on the battle field. It seemed at first that Togekiss's attacks were only grazing Aamira because of her injury from Aura Sphere. Soon it became evident that she was most likely just toying with her. While battling was something that pokemon had and would always enjoy, no one liked watching something so brutal. It was disgusting even to this experienced Investigation Team member from Tempestas.

"And here I thought you wanted to help your friends, but I guess not!" Togekiss said to Aamira, though still quietly enough so that no one in the audience could hear. "Oh what they'll think when they learn about how you gave up on them!"

Togekiss attacked with another Air Slash, which sent Aamira flying across the stadium. She managed to stop herself by diving onto the ground, but the wind was so strong that it was impossible to stand back up. The attack finally stopped, but by then Aamira was gasping for breath and was struggling just to move.

Togekiss landed in front of her. It was amazing how much bigger she seemed close up, especially with Aamira collapsed on the ground. "How pitiful. I had heard about a strong team, but it was all talk I suppose. Or maybe Quill is the stronger of the two of you. Either way, it would seem that I've wasted my time on you. Though tossing you around like a ragdoll was rather entertaining for a while at least. But I'm getting bored, so if you don't mind I'll just end the match now."

Aamira flinched and closed her eyes as Togekiss swung her wing back for another Air Slash. She waited, but no attack came. She heard Togekiss laughing and opened her eyes again. Togekiss slowly lowered her wing then bent forward to whisper to Aamira. "I know I said I wouldn't use Aura Sphere, but the thought of defeating you with your best attack is just too good to pass up. The knowledge that I didn't need it is good enough for me. And as long as you know that, it's good enough for me."

'This has got to be my only chance while she's on the ground like this!' Aamira thought frantically. 'I really didn't want to use that move, but it looks like I'll have to.'

Aamira still couldn't move, but this was her one shot. For some time after this, she would be convinced that pouring every last ounce of her remaining strength into an attack that may or may not work, especially giving the circumstances, was the stupidest thing she ever did.

'Just please don't fail me now!'

Togekiss fired the battle ending Aura Sphere at Aamira. Aamira used aura sphere on the ground, enabling her to jump into the air and dodge the attack though still just barely able to move. With her other paw she formed it into a fist.

"She's seriously going to do it!" Quill shouted.

Just as Togekiss was getting ready to retreat into the sky, sparks started to dance around Aamira's closed paw. She weakly hit Togekiss just above her left wing. Even though Aamira was too tired to make the punch itself very powerful, the bolt of electricity that shot through Togekiss's body was more than enough to make up for it.

Togekiss screamed and fell back on the ground. It looked like she had been paralyzed by the shock of electricity. A spark shot up Aamira's arm and she flinched and grabbed at it.

"So the attack was Thunderpunch!" Luxray said. "I never would have guessed!"

"Uh, yea… Thunderpunch…" Quill was a little confused. Aamira had never mentioned learning that move.

"Togekiss is down!" Charmeleon shouted. "The winner is Aamira!"

The crowd erupted into cheers, but Aamira didn't notice any of it. The only thing she could think of was the electricity that was running through her arm. For such a risky attempt, it seemed to be taking its toll on her in the most unpleasant way imaginable for her.

A herd of Rhyhorn suddenly stampeded onto the stadium and surrounded Togekiss. "We've been after you for quite some time." One of them said. "Togekiss, we are placing you under arrest for crimes as a Bounty Hunter."

Togekiss still seemed somewhat dazed, but she seemed to know exactly what was going on. She struggled up to her feet, though her wing had been too badly hurt to fly, and allowed them to lead her out of the stadium. Before proceeding through the exit, she turned back towards Aamira, giving her one last sly smile and another mock bow.

Quill had never been so scared as he was when he listened through the entire lecture that Ruko had given Aamira after she had been escorted to the clinic. He went on and on about attempting a move like that in a battle before perfecting it and how she would have saved them all a lot of trouble if she had just stopped being so full of pride long enough to use Sucker Punch and end the battle quickly. Charmeleon came in to inform them that Rhyperior and the Rhydon were doing their best to interrogate Togekiss, but that she was refusing to answer any questions. After a while, Quill and Aamira were left alone.

"That was some ending! Why didn't you tell me you knew Thunderpunch? When did you learn it?" Quill asked.

"Uhmm…" Aamira looked outside at the sky in an attempt to tell what time it was. "About ten to fifteen minutes ago, I guess."

"You mean that was the first time?"

"Yea. I had been playing with the idea of learning it for this match for a while, but… well you know how I am with electric type attacks. I never got around to it, but it didn't seem like there was much of a choice. At that point because I was on the ground and couldn't move, Sucker Punch wasn't even an option unless I jumped the way I did, but then the angle would have been way off and it probably wouldn't have landed a hit anyway. Besides, being a normal type, Togekiss would have been less affected by it."

"So if you hate electric attacks so much, why not Ice Punch? Riolu can learn that too, right?"

"It would have been difficult and a little too risky. If it didn't work I would have lost and Togekiss would have escaped. Since Riolu can control aura then, in theory, electricity wouldn't be much more difficult. Besides, being a fighting type I'm strong against ice types, aren't I? It would be like you trying to learn Solar Beam; theoretically possible since Typhlosion can learn it, but highly unlikely that you'd be able to."

"Ah, I get it. So it was like an all or nothing situation and Thunderpunch was the only option. It seemed to hurt you too though."

"Well it was the first time I used it." Aamira laid back in the bed and stared up at the ceiling. A small tremor shook the room, possibly one of the many after shocks from the earthquake from before. "I wouldn't mind learning Ice Punch though; I certainly never want to use Thunderpunch again. I think it would do the job just as well as Thunderpunch. So at least now I don't have to worry about flying types."

"Well that's a good thing. Oh, come to think of it, Honchkrow's been pretty quiet lately. I wonder if he's up to something. I guess we should just keep our eyes on Hunter for now. We are facing him in the semifinals, after all."

"Oh yea, I almost forgot about that."

What a hectic second round it had been. At the very least, one of their enemies had been knocked out of the tournament. Now that the only two battling aside from Hunter were the two members of Team Sleuth, everyone would be counting on them to win. Without knowing his motive for entering, there was a much more pressing issue on their minds though; where were their fellow team members?


	39. Chapter 39 The Ocean's Ambassador

Quill, Aamira, and Hunter each entered through different entrances in the stadium. Neither of them had any confidence in beating Hunter alone, so even though Quill and Aamira were fighting for themselves, they had agreed to work together. Not as if much of an agreement was needed; most people seemed convinced that this was how it was supposed to be.

It even seemed that the stadium was a little more packed than it usually was. Ignis was knocked out of the tournament, ironically by a pokemon born in Ignis, but everyone was just as excited to see how their battle would turn out.

Aamira glanced up at the country leaders' box and smiled at Altaria and Lapras, who had finally made it in time for the semifinals. They seemed disappointed that both of their representatives had been knocked out in the first round, but they were still just as excited as everyone else.

Even though she and Quill were about to battle Hunter, Aamira felt calmer than she normally did whenever Hunter was involved in anything. At this point, their battle didn't seem very important. Their team members were still missing and Togekiss was refusing to tell anyone where they were. Aamira reminded her that she promised to tell them where their friends were if she won, to which she curtly replied "I said that I would, but I never said when."

This whole situation was irritating. Aamira hated Hunter almost as much as he hated her, if that was even possible. The sooner their match ended, the sooner they would be able to search for their friends. Odds are that between the three of them, it wouldn't end any time soon though. The only good thing about any of this was that Lapras and Altaria had arrived safely.

"Hello, everyone, and welcome to the semifinals of the Investigator Trilogy!" Charmeleon shouted. "The much anticipated semifinal match between Aamira, Quill, and Hunter has finally arrived! Remember, this is a three way open battle, which means that anything goes. Items, with the exception of held items, and weapons are still prohibited as ever. The first pokemon to be defeated will be knocked out of the tournament, allowing the other two to continue onto the finals. So without further ado, let's get the semifinal match started!"

Hunter wasn't about to wait around. As soon as they were given the signal to start, he ran towards Quill. Quill dodged Hunter's attack by burrowing underground, giving Aamira an opening to attack with Aura Sphere. Hunter hit it away casually and it hit the ground in front of the wall. Some of the pokemon flinched, expecting the wall to be destroyed as it had been with Togekiss's Aura Sphere. Quill jumped out from underground and attacked with Flamethrower. Hunter dodged out of the way by jumping in the air and landing behind Aamira.

Just as Hunter was about to attack, the ground started shaking, feeling like it was about to completely crumble from under their feet. The pokemon in the stands all shouted and laid on the floor in an attempt to keep from being knocked around by the earthquake. A huge crack split the stadium in two, causing part of the balcony floor to crumble. Hunter jumped into the air and just as the large section of the balcony was about to land on the pokemon below, he reduced it to a pile of rubble with a single kick.

The Rhyhorn stampeded into the stadium and made an attempt to shepherd everyone outside before anyone was hurt. Their leader, Rhyperior, stood in the center, destroying falling debris with rocks shot out from the center of his palm. Satisfied that everyone was safe, Hunter ran off in the chaos and Aamira and Quill struggled to move towards the exit to meet with everyone else outside.

The sky had suddenly gone dark. Aamira and Quill looked up at the sky to see it filled with black smoke. In the west, the volcano was oozing with lava. As another small eruption was triggered, more debris was shot into the air. Aamira and Quill and other Investigation Team members in the area immediately went to work destroying any large boulders that were sent flying towards them. The shaking of the ground was preventing them from getting a good aim, but for the most part the biggest loss was a few houses closer to the volcano.

Moltres was flying around the volcano in a frenzy, fiery wings dying the smoke red as she desperately tried to find a way to make it stop. Two more bird pokemon suddenly appeared in the sky through the smoke. The yellow one knocked Moltres out of the way and the blue one used Ice Beam on the inside of the volcano. After a while, though the ground still continued to shake, the eruption stopped. Eventually, the shaking stopped and, though they were hit with several more aftershocks, things started to calm down.

Moltres was curled up on the ground with Articuno and Zapdos near by trying to calm her down. Most of the population of Ignis lived at the base of a volcano, but Moltres lived inside of it. What was complete chaos to them could only be so much worse for Moltres. Though most were surprised to see the three legendary pokemon appear right in front of them, they thought it best to keep their distance. Whatever was going on, it had to be something bad if two of them had to show up to help the third.

"Where is Charmeleon!" Someone behind them asked in a dignified tone.

Aamira and Quill and the others standing nearby turned to see a blue finned pokemon with a fin-like mane walking towards them from the direction of the ocean. She shook her fur and covered everyone near by with drops of water, much to the annoyance of the fire types.

"And to what do we owe the pleasure of a visit of Aequor's ambassador?" Typhlosion asked.

The blue pokemon sat on the ground and curled her tail around her legs. "I am Vaporeon. I was sent here by my king to discuss the recent events. I don't know what it is that Ignis is up to, but it's obvious that it's not just causing problems in the ocean."

With this came a sudden uproar of protests from everyone around who was native to Ignis.

"Why would we make our own volcano erupt?" 

"My house was just destroyed by a boulder, in case you didn't notice!"

Flareon of Team Phoenix came running towards them, pushing her way through the crowd. "Vaporeon, is that really you?"

Vaporeon looked at Flareon, obviously not expecting to find her in a place like Ignis. "Flareon! So this is where you've been all this time! I was so worried."

"You were worried?" Flareon said with a wave of her fluffy tail. "You're the one who fell into the ocean! I should have figured that you ended up living in Aequor!"

"Another aunt?" Quill asked, looking between Vaporeon and Flareon.

"Aunt?" Vaporeon asked. "Ah, I see you've found yourself a family."

Flareon shook her head. "No, he's Espeon's son. She lived on an island off the coast of Ignis for a while before moving to Sylva with Leafeon. Glaceon also has a son now."

"Oh I see. How nice." Vaporeon said. Her attitude had completely changed from before. Everyone around was stunned upon finding out that Flareon had an Aequorean sister.

Charmeleon came running through the crowd, obviously expecting there to be a fight that had broken out, only to find the two sisters reminiscing about the old times.

"Ah, there you are." Vaporeon said, suddenly becoming business like once again. "I've come with a message from the king of Aequor. He says that if you don't keep your earthquakes from triggering the whirlpools and messing up the currents around our country, we will cut off our Wailord messengers from Ignis entirely."

"That's insane!" Charmeleon said. "Without the Wailord, we can't get sand from Silex! The entire glass market will go under! Besides, you can't go blaming us for these earthquakes! How do we know it's not caused by you Aequoreans messing with the underwater fault lines?"

Vaporeon glared at Charmeleon and just as she was about to retort, Flareon gave her a funny look which Vaporeon returned. Something didn't seem right here. There was something going on and someone had to figure out what it was.

"I would have sent my own ambassador, you know." Charmeleon snapped at Vaporeon. "But as it so happens while there are water types that can breathe on land, there are no fire types that can breathe underwater!"

"Wait, that's not entirely true!" Aamira said. "Remember, Quill? The Phione gave us both one of their Water Marks."

"They did?" Vaporeon asked. "You have no idea what an honor it is to be given a gift like that."

"We've been inside the volcano already and didn't see anything unusual, so maybe we could go to Aequor to investigate things there?" Quill asked.

Vaporeon thought about this for a moment. Of course, she hadn't gone there to bring anyone back; she was only there to deliver the king's message.

"It could help to prove that Aequor isn't doing anything suspicious." Flareon said. "These kids are pretty good. I think you should give them a shot."

"Oh, why not?" Vaporeon said. "If for no other reason than to prove that it isn't Aequor behind this!"

Of course, Charmeleon was convinced that Team Sleuth would be able to catch them doing something under the ocean. He seemed to share the mindset of the rest of the pokemon of Ignis. While Vaporeon was convinced that this would clear Aequor's name and leave Ignis as the guilty country. The stadium would take time, even for their skilled construction team, to rebuild, so they were in no rush. So with a few last preparations, the two remaining members of Team Sleuth got ready for their underwater adventure.

Near sunset, Lapras appeared at the edge of the beach along with Vaporeon. The two of them were talking like a couple of old friends, which wouldn't be too surprising since they were both water types.

"Oh, you're here!" Lapras said in her usual sweet and high pitched voice. "I'm so happy; I haven't had the chance to ferry people across the ocean in so long."

"If you're ready, we should be going." Vaporeon said.

Quill and Aamira both glanced at each other and climbed onto Lapras's back.

"Don't worry about her." Lapras whispered to them. "She might have an icy personality, but she's actually really kind and reliable."

Vaporeon was a surprisingly fast swimmer, even faster than Lapras. Vaporeon would swim for a while then stop to wait for Lapras, who was traveling at a quick and constant speed, to catch up. They continued at this pace late into the night. Lapras assured them that they would be there within the next few hours, so the two of them were able to get a little sleep on the way there.

A few hours later, Lapras arched her neck back and nudged the two of them with her nose to get them to wake up. Judging by the moon and stars, it was probably some time past midnight. They had been asleep for a surprisingly long period of time. It was barely noticeable in the pale moonlight, but underneath the surface of the water was a sort of underwater whirlpool or vortex.

"This is the entrance to Aequor." Vaporeon explained. "This current runs here from the south and, after passing Aequor, farther to the west. Be sure to hold on tight when you enter and exit the current and to not reach out to touch the edges or else you'll be swept far away."

The two of them nodded drowsily and Vaporeon dove underneath. Lapras gave Quill and Aamira enough time to put the Water Marks around their necks before diving. The two of them clutched at the spikes on her shell as tightly as they could, but were still nearly swept away.

After entering the current, the two were amazed by how quickly they were moving even though Lapras hardly moved at all. The current was fast, but once inside it, it was hard to tell exactly how fast they were moving. The dim moonlight shining through the surface of the ocean and against the sides of the current added a strange beauty and sense of mystery to the open water. This was nothing like the Sea Temple; this was the real ocean.

They were moving so fast along the current that they could see how much darker it was getting the further down they went. Soon, schools of Lanturn and Chinchou started to swarm, lighting small areas of the ocean along with the eyes of Staryu and Starmie and the occasional Sharpedo.

The current twisted and turned around the edges of rocks near the ocean floor. Lapras looked back at them as if to say that they were about to leave; the current was so loud that her voice wouldn't have carried well underwater. The two of them held on tightly and Lapras rolled off to the side as she exited the current, obviously doing so in a way that would keep them from getting swept away by accident.

They continued to follow Vaporeon through an underwater cave, where they eventually got off of Lapras's back and started to follow along behind them. Vaporeon used sunny day, causing the mane around her neck to glow as bright as the sun in order to light the way through the progressively dark cave.

Because of the pressure that was this deep down, walking at this depth wasn't an issue. Quill had his lava swimming training and Aamira was a fighting type, so the pressure didn't bother them as much as it might have, which both of them had been worried about.

"Can you hear me?" Quill asked Aamira

Aamira scratched her ears out of irritation. Everything sounded sort of like low volume static to her down here. "Yea, but just barely. This is going to take some getting used to."

Quill smirked. "I can hear you perfectly. I guess I got the better ability this time around."

Aamira Groaned. She wasn't made for underwater survival. Though the pressure was enough to help them walk somewhat normally, it wasn't the same as gravity on land so she couldn't go jumping around like she normally could when in a battle. Quill was also a lot smaller and lighter and more aerodynamic so he could swim longer than she could. He also had those smaller eyes that kept most of the salt water out of them. Aamira's eyes were already feeling irritated, but she had gotten used to it while in the current. Still, she didn't know how long they would be down here. She imagined being blind for about a week after returning to the surface. Obviously Cyndaquil, who had originated from tropical islands surrounded by ocean, were adapted perfectly to swimming in spite of being fire types.

"Hurry up you two!" Vaporeon shouted back at them.

The two of them jumped off of the cave floor and swam after her and Lapras. Aamira was the first to tire and Quill headed back to walk with her when she couldn't swim anymore. By then they had neared an incline in the cave, which proved to be more difficult to swim through in the near dark. The only source of light they had was the light coming from Vaporeon, who was much farther ahead of them by now. It was weird being able to breathe in this tunnel, since the dark and not knowing how far they were from the walls made it seem like it was getting harder to breathe.

They finally managed to swim out of it and met Vaporeon and Lapras on top of a shelf. They looked up and could see that they weren't too far from the surface of the ocean at this point. There was even a lot more light up here so they could see. All of the area around them was dotted with corals and discarded shells of Shelder, Cloyster, Clamperl and several others they didn't recognize along with a few lazy Staryu and Starmie who had traveled up here to bask in the light.

"So why didn't we just dive directly down from above here?" Aamira asked.

"You can't see it from here," Vaporeon replied, "But the entire country is on top of a huge underwater plateau. At one point it used to be an island, but some time in the past that island was probably destroyed by a huge attack from a powerful pokemon. The edges of the island are still as high as ever, but this area was hollowed out into a crater. There was no way to swim down here from above."

"But if I remember correctly that's not entirely true." Lapras said to Vaporeon. "The first time I came here, there was a current very close to here that took us straight to the entrance without needing to go through the underground tunnel."

"Well that was the last time. All of the whirlpools, underwater earthquakes and such have been making the currents change. Now all of the currents that used to lead directly to the city only lead away from the city and the only way in is through the underground cave, which has been causing a ton of problems for everyone. The Politoed brothers have had to restock a bunch of luminous orbs in their shop, which has cut out on the time they've been able to practice with their choir, even with the help of some Poliwag and Poliwhirl. A lot of our Investigation Teams have been taking jobs for escorts out of the city, but a lot of people don't have enough money to pay for it and Investigation Teams can't live off of taking jobs for free all the time."

"So in other words, money can't circulate the way it normally could so you want to take Ignis's economy down with yours by cutting off the Wailord that they used to deliver things to that Silex country."

"Or this is all the fault of Ignis to begin with and we have good reason to make such a threat." Vaporeon pointed out. "Of course, it's also possible that this is just the king's way of asking for help in the only way he knew how."

"So why don't we just go ask him about what's been going on?" Quill asked. "We might be able to figure out more about what's happening."

Vaporeon nodded. "Of course. Follow me."

Lapras watched the two of them head off and wandered off to explore some of the shops. It was hard to believe that with Ignis and Aequor fighting the way they always had that they were perfectly fine with the leader of Glacies just wandering and browsing in their shops. Maybe it had to do with them living so far away, but whatever the reason it was nice to know that even as isolated as Aequor was, they were at least on good terms with someone.

The entire city was made out of white coral that had been cut down like trees and formed into buildings that were shaped to their desires. At first glance, this city was colorless, but the colors of the pokemon that lived there changed that in a big way. It was hard to believe that there were so many different pokemon of so many different colors. They had expected most water types to be blue like the majority of others they had seen, but there were also yellows, pinks, reds, greens, and browns.

The most incredible feature in the town was a giant fountain in the center of the city made of some sort of pink and blue gemstones surrounded by corals of the same colors. At a distance, they weren't sure what it was because, of course, how could there be a fountain underwater? That was exactly what it was, though, only except for water this fountain was pouring out bubbles that flowed upwards instead of water flowing downwards. The small bubbles rose from beneath the fountain, flowed around the gem sculpture in the center, and all popped after they got about a foot above it. It was like some sort of upside-down fountain.

"Like it?" Vaporeon asked. "This fountain is the favorite feature of our capitol city of Pearl. It's made from the extra pearls grown by the Clamperl, including the rare blue ones. The king had it constructed shortly after he was put in charge, but no one really knows why. You should see it in the sun; it's even more beautiful than it is now."

"I have to admit that being underwater isn't anything like I expected." Aamira said.

"It's not too different from the surface." Vaporeon said. "We have our version of wind and rivers in the forms of currents as well as mountains, volcanoes, clouds caused by the ink of Octillery and bubbles of other pokemon, and I've even heard that somewhere around here there's a giant backwards flowing waterfall just like this fountain."

"What about storms?" Quill asked. "Even when there's a bad storm on land, the water stays calm."

"Not normally, but the whirlpools we've been getting lately have been causing currents similar to storms. You would think that with the few entrances to the city it wouldn't be as bad. Of course, they're not as bad as they are for the other cities outside of this crater but they're still a bit problematic."

"How so?" Aamira asked.

"Would you build a house to withstand an earthquake in an area that never has any?" Vaporeon asked. "We never have currents like this, so our coral homes aren't built to withstand them."

At first they didn't take much notice, but even though it was still early in the morning and the sun had yet to reach above the mountains surrounding the city a lot of pokemon were roaming around gathering broken pieces of coral and attempting to repair the weaker areas of buildings. They had no idea that this wasn't something they did on a regular basis. Still, it was nice to see that everyone was working together and taking the time to help each other out. It still must have been problematic for them to rebuild their homes every time one of those currents came through.

They reached something that looked like a small palace near the eastern edge of the city. It was made of white coral like everything else and flat, disk shaped coral formed the floors in a way that looked like small steps. Inside they found a pink pokemon adjusting a giant seashell in the back of the one room palace. After he was done, he waved his hands and a few coral fragments that were laying on the ground flew through the water and landed in the places that they had apparently fallen from.

"Hey, your majesty!" A voice said apparently from nowhere. "Would you turn around? You have guests!"

"Hmm?" The pink pokemon turned around and saw the three of them standing in the doorway. "Back already, Vaporeon? What was Charizard's response?"

"Well, as it turns out something has happened to Charizard so they put his son Charmeleon in charge temporarily. I've spoken with him but he claims he has nothing to do with the earthquakes and whirlpools."

"Is that so?" The pokemon picked up a staff made out of a shell that looked similar to the one on its head. "I guess we have no choice but to cut off their supplies delivered via Wailord."

"A-Aren't you being a bit hasty, sir?" Vaporeon apparently wasn't used to such a straight forward reply like this. "That's why I brought these two…"

"Hmm?" The pokemon they took to be the king seemed to notice them for the first time. He glanced at Aamira, then quickly turned to Quill. "A fire type! How dare you come into our domain?"

"If you would just listen…" Vaporeon said. "These two are an Investigation Team from Sylva. They have no ties with Ignis other than being involved in the tournament that's currently taken place. While it is true that the Cyndaquil was born off of the shores of Ignis, I found out from a sister of mine who lives in Ignis that this Cyndaquil is in fact my nephew, raised by the most responsible of all of my siblings, myself included, and therefore I trust him completely."

"You don't say?" He stared off into space for an uncomfortably long amount of time, making Aamira and Quill wonder just what exactly was going on inside of that head of his. "Very well, then. I am Slowking. Welcome to Aequor's capitol city of Pearl. May I ask what it is that you'll be doing here?"

'He's not even going to question how we're breathing underwater?' Aamira thought to herself. "We've seen the inside of Ignis's volcano and we don't think there's anything suspicious going on there that could be caused by any of them so we came here to see if the source could be underwater."

"You think that we're responsible?" Slowking asked.

"Well, I kind of wondered at first," Quill said, "since Vaporeon appeared right after an earthquake and minor eruption in Ember. After seeing what's going on here though, I don't think that any of this was caused by anyone from Ignis or Aequor. Or if it was that it's not being done on purpose."

"Hey, let me see them would you?" The voice from earlier said.

Slowking sighed. "He's as rude as ever, as you can see."

Vaporeon gave him an awkward smile.

"Who's he talking about?" Quill whispered to Vaporeon.

"His crown." Vaporeon replied.

At first the two of them didn't know what to think, but then when Slowking turned around, they saw that, in fact, the shell crown he wore had eyes.

"Hi, nice to meetcha." He said. "I'm Cloyster, even though I don't look like one. You could just call me the King's Crown, though."

"The crown is… Alive…" Aamira said.

"The wonderful world of pokemon!" Quill was also obviously trying to wrap his mind around this. "Where mysteries come to life, even in the depths of the ocean!"

"Glad to see that someone at least is impressed by my regal appearance." The King's Crown said.

"I wish you wouldn't bite so hard when you speak; it gives me a headache." Ignoring the King's Crown's protests, Slowking turned back towards his guests. "Anyway, you're free to ask anyone in the city if they know anything about what's been going on. I'll offer my full cooperation in order to prove our innocence in this matter. That being said, I have no idea what could be causing all of this."

"Well thank you for your time." Aamira said.

"Yea, we'll go ask around like you suggested." Quill said. "We'll come right back if we find out about anything."

Slowking nodded. "Good luck."

The two of them ran out of Slowking's palace and headed off to gather some information. By this time, the sun had passed the mountains and was shining down into the ocean, brightly illuminating the pearl fountain in the main square. Vaporeon wasn't exaggerating about its beauty in the sunlight that even made the bubbles seem to glow.

If Pearl was anything like any other city, they knew exactly where to find some good information and gossip. That is, if the Politoed siblings were anything like any of the Keckleon siblings.

Finding them wasn't difficult; all they had to do was follow the music. Near the southeastern corner of the main square was the shop where the two Politoed, one green and yellow and one pink and purple, were singing with Lapras while a few pokemon gathered around and listened while others went about their work to the sound of their singing. Lapras hit her flippers against the ground, making a sound similar to a drum to help keep the rhythm.

"Excuse me." Aamira said. "I was wondering if the two of you could answer some questions."

"To music loving pokemon, no words shall be spoken, not when we need to keep the pace of the morning." The green one replied in song.

"To music loving pokemon, no questions shall be asked, now when we need to keep the rhythm of the morning." The purple one sang.

"The cadence of morning would die. Without a voice it would die." They sang together.

At the sight of their confused expressions, Lapras cut in. "Keep to the rhythm, keep to the sound. If you wish to ask a question you must find a way around. To ask your questions, you must play along. To ask a question, ask as a song!"

"To ask a question, ask it in song!" The two Politoed sang.

Quill laughed. "Oh, I get it! They're singing to help everyone work faster! So if they stop then everyone would slow down, so we should sing too!"

"Sounds kind of fun!" Aamira said. "Hmm… I haven't tried to just make up a tune on the spot since Latias hatched, I think."

"Do your best, give it a try. It doesn't even have to rhyme, have to rhyme." The two sang.

"Alright, just give me a second." Aamira said while thinking of a way to ask their question in the form of a song. "Fire and water have been shaken up, even the volcano started to erupt. The winds underwater that tore through the town that keeps you from singing in your usual sound. Do you what could shake the sea and the ground?"

The two Politoed clapped their webbed hands together.

"A good attempt at singing versus free." The first sang.

"Though a master of versus you may not be." The second said instead of singing. A few pokemon nearby laughed.

Aamira's face turned a deep red. "I said it's been a while…"

Lapras started the beat back up and the two Politoed started to sing again. "Many voices do we have and many do we hear."

"From the Poliwag that serve us who come from far and near."

"In spite of this, we know not how to answer what you ask…"

"though word as reached us of the cause of this blight…"

"to find the answer for which you search, ask the old master Whiscash…"

"to hopefully shed on this situation some light…"

"for when he shakes his whiskers, the ground is said to tremble…"

"go to master Whiscash to find the answers you seek."

"Whiscash, huh?" Aamira said. "Where does he live?"

"To the north of the city, lies a cavern wrapped in seaweed."

"Go there and tell him what you need."

"Okay, thanks." Quill said. "Wait, you just answered the question without Aamira having to sing."

"Could it be that… you don't like my singing?" Aamira hadn't sang in a long time, and she didn't think she had much of a talent for it to begin with, but this still seemed a bit harsh.

"You two don't need water lungs to be down here thanks to those Water Marks." Lapras said. "So of course you can't speak as well as we can underwater, let alone sing. It just sounds strange to them."

"Oh, I get it…" This made Aamira feel even more embarrassed. Now that she thought about it, Lapras and Vaporeon's voices both sounded a lot higher pitched above the water. There must have been something about it that made Aamira and Quill's voices sound strange since they didn't live down there normally.

"Well let's go look for Whiscash." Quill said. "You said it was to the north, right?"

The two Politoed nodded and went back to singing with Lapras. Along the way to meet Whiscash, Aamira and Quill noticed some other Investigation Teams hurrying off on some sort of mission. It looked like things weren't much different underwater from on land, though it still felt like they were in an entirely different world.

They eventually found a field of seaweed that the Politoed has mentioned. It was clingy and it was hard to swim through without getting tangled up, so the two of them had to walk, which made it hard to tell where they were going. They noticed a few Barboach swimming nimbly through the nearly impossible to navigate seaweed and figured they must be getting close.

They eventually came across a small clearing with a chasm near the center. There was movement from inside and the two of them backed away as the huge fish pokemon swam out to see them. He was a lot older and bigger than they thought he would be.

"Yes, what do you want?" Whiscash asked.

"You're Whiscash, aren't you?" Aamira asked.

"My name is Dragon." He growled. He definitely looked like one because of how old and big he was.

"We were just wondering if you were the one causing the earthquakes." Quill asked.

"Go away!" Dragon turned around and squeezed back into his small den and curled up.

"No wait!" Aamira shouted. "Please, we just want to know if you know anything. Currents have been destroying the houses around here and the earthquakes have been destroying buildings in Ignis."

Dragon laughed. "Clever, isn't it? Trying to stop both from fighting by causing these earthquakes? After all, I can cause them easily just with a little wiggle of my whiskers."

"So it was you!" Quill said. "Well it's not working and now they're fighting more than ever, so could you stop?"

"Stop? No. Never."

"Why not?" Aamira asked.

Dragon hissed and came back out of the cave and started wiggling his whiskers. The two of them flinched and waited for the earthquake to hit, but it never came. "I can't stop, because I can't create earthquakes with my whiskers to begin with!"

"So it… wasn't you?" Aamira asked.

"Of course not! I have the ability to sense earthquakes with my whiskers, no more. It's true that my species can learn magnitude, earthquake, and even fissure, but I'd be a fool to use those attack here since my home is made from a fissure. One false move and the one place I can be alone will be destroyed!" he seemed to place a lot of emphasis on "alone" when he spoke. He obviously didn't have any sort of preference for entertaining house guests. "Now be sure to tell all of your little Investigator friends so they never come around here again!"

"Okay, but could you tell us about anyone else who could be causing all of this?" Aamira asked.

"I don't know about earthquakes, but there is a powerful pokemon I've heard of capable of creating powerful whirlpools." Dragon said as he curled back up in his den. "I've lived here in this fissure for over 300 years, so I was no witness to what happened. Ask Slowking and I'm sure he'll tell you all about it."

"Slowking!" The two of them said.

"What does he have to do with this?" Quill asked.

Dragon was about to reply when the tips of his whiskers twitched. He looked towards the west and retreated deeper into his cave. A small tremor shook the plateau. Worried about anymore whirlpools forming that would cause a current to run through town, the two of them headed back to town.

When they got back, everyone was cowering inside of their houses. After a few minutes people started to come back out. If there had been a whirlpool, it wasn't big enough to have caused any change in the currents.

Acting on what Dragon had told them, the two of them headed back to Slowking. He was back at his palace with Vaporeon, who had apparently been arguing with him not long before they had arrived.

"Oh, you're back." Slowking said. "So what was the cause of the earthquakes?"

"Well, we're not sure about the earthquakes, but we did find out something interesting about the whirlpools." Aamira said.

"Is that so?" Slowking asked.

"You know, Ignis is around a fault line so it's possible that the earthquakes are just caused by moving fault lines." Quill said. "But that wouldn't explain the whirlpools. We did some asking around and someone said that you might have actually known what was going on all along."

Aamira crossed her arms. "Is there something you might have forgotten to tell us?"

"Better fess up now before something worse happens." The King's Crown said.

Slowking sighed and folded his hands behind his back. "Please understand, I meant no harm by it."

"What is it?" Aamira asked.

"The only reason I didn't tell you… was because I wanted to protect Kingdra." He said.

"Who's Kingdra?" Aamira asked.

"She was a friend of mine…" he said. "The Slowking and Kingdra tribes have competed over the throne for as long as Aequor existed. For the two of us, our only family was our parents. Unfortunately, only my mother was a Slowking as was her mother a Kingdra and they were both really old, which left us as the last two to compete over the throne. In spite of that, we grew up as friends.

"It used to be that the Kingdra always won the competition for the throne, which was always the first heir to evolve. But soon the dragon scales they needed for evolution disappeared and the Slowking took over. The truth is, she evolved before I did after I found her a dragon scale, but apparently she was an exceptionally strong Kingdra that only appeared once every few generations. She couldn't control her power and could cause catastrophes by any minor gesture. One of the worst always happened at night when she started to get tired. Every time she would yawn, it would be so powerful that it would cause whirlpools to appear."

"Wow, really?" Quill said.

Slowking nodded. "A lot of people were afraid of what she could possibly do to the city so quite a few suggested banishment, but I didn't want that to happen to my friend. So we went together to the Coral Forest and she agreed to stay there in the deepest part of the dungeon. She figured that staying in that dungeon at the edge of Aequor would be better than banishment. I used my psychic powers to put her to sleep after that. After all, you wouldn't normally yawn if you're already asleep, right?"

"So if Kingdra's yawning again, that means that she must have woken up, right?" Aamira asked. "Couldn't you go make her fall asleep again?"

"Leave everyone? In the middle of this crisis? Even if I did go to make her fall back to sleep, what's to keep her from yawning on my way there?" he asked.

"It may not seem like it at times," Vaporeon said, "but our king cares for everyone in Aequor."

"Oh, how about this?" Slowking rummaged around in a treasure chest near the back of the room and pulled out an orb. "You can use this Slumber Orb and make her go back to sleep, couldn't you? You could go in my place, right? That will at least keep her asleep until everything calms down and I can go myself."

"I suppose we could…" Aamira said. "Still, something doesn't seem right about this…"

"Oh please, you two are the only ones who could do this for me!" Slowking said desperately. "Every other Investigation Team is so busy helping people through this crisis, so if you would please help us out just this once, I promise we'll try to get along better with Ignis and the other countries."

"Of course we'll go!" Quill said. "This has been causing trouble in Ignis and Aequor. Who knows? It might gradually get worse until even more places are affected."

"Oh thank you so much!" Slowking threw the orb to Quill. "Please, do this as soon as you possibly can and I promise to give you a reward afterwards!"

"Don't worry; we'll put Kingdra back to sleep. Then you won't have to worry about this anymore." Aamira said.

Vaporeon screamed as she was hit by a combination of two Ice Beams. How was she supposed to know that this would happen? They might have figured it out if they had just waited a few more minutes before leaving. Right after Team Sleuth left, Team Shimmer arrived. Before she had known what had happened, she had been locked in a prison in a secret room she never knew existed.

"That should teach you a lesson!" Prinplup said. "Even considering going against the king's wishes… What kind of Aequorean are you anyway?"

"Would you two quiet down!" Milotic shouted at them.

"Thank you." Slowking said. In between the two of them was a pedestal, floating above which was a red gem which was glowing brightly and making wave-like patterns on the walls around them. "As you can see, it's getting brighter. It's only a matter of time now."

Milotic smirked. "Soon Ignis will sink beneath the waves and Aequor will be the absolute ruling country of the sea. Even the pokemon of the sea temple will fear us!"

The King's Crown laughed. "With those interlopers out of the way, no one will ever find out about our plan!"

Vaporeon shivered from the cold combination of Ice Beams and struggled to stand up. "That Cyndaquil is my nephew… His friend, I trust, is as equally gifted as he must be… They won't be easily defeated by Kingdra… They'll be back and they will stop you."

"Is that so?" Slowking said. "Well if you're so sure, we should do something about it, shouldn't we?"

"What do you suggest?" Milotic asked.

"Must you ask?" Slowking asked. "Go after them. After their battle with Kingdra is over, be sure to give them their reward with my most sincere gratitude."


	40. Chapter 40 The True King of Aequor

Ever since they arrived at the Coral Forest, Aamira and Quill's luck had started to run out. It seemed like ever since they entered the dungeon, they ran into every trap in the dungeon. Quite a few were traps that attracted the pokemon in the dungeon, which made it difficult to proceed without injury since they weren't accustomed to fighting underwater.

There were also traps unique to the underwater terrain that they had never run into before, including a particularly harmful one that caused a small whirlpool to form. The whirlpool would spin them around, make them confused, and send them flying to a different area when the whirlpool died down. Because of the spinning, it made it impossible to tell what direction they had come from and they had to rely solely on the other to find them.

"Are you hanging in there?" Aamira asked.

Quill was shaking and breathing heavily. Even if he was at a type disadvantage, it didn't help that he couldn't use the majority of his attacks underwater. "I'm okay, just give me a minute…"

"I didn't think this dungeon would be so dangerous." Aamira was almost as tired as he was. "I guess being in lower gravity like this makes it more difficult. There's no way to fight the way we're used to down here."

Quill nodded. This dungeon was not at all how it first appeared. It looked so beautiful at first with the large tree-sized pink corals. It had been inhabited near the start by the cutest Chinchou, Luvdisk, and Corsola who weren't very strong and tended to leave them alone for the most part. That changed not long after, however.

"How could Kingdra possibly live in a place like this?" Quill asked. "Let alone sleep here for years!"

"I don't know, but I hope we're getting close." Aamira said.

They continued through the dungeon for a while, defeating various pokemon, each more powerful than the last. The two of them were tired and were getting sick of all of the water. Around noon they decided to stop for a lunch break. Even the normally sweet apples were tainted with salt.

They were talking about the large variety of pokemon in the dungeon and going over possible strategies for defeating the stronger ones. It was around this time that Quill noticed something strange. There was a slight movement between some cracks in the rock beneath them. The nose of what appeared to be a small blue pokemon appeared between the cracks.

"Hey, what kind of pokemon is this?" Quill got closer and tried looking through the crack at the tiny pokemon, but it retreated back into the shadows.

"I've never seen one like that before." Aamira jumped off of the fallen coral branch they had been sitting on to join Quill.

The two of them stood there watching the small crack in the ground for a while. After a while, the little blue pokemon appeared again, sticking its pointed nose through the crack and staring at them with large blank orange eyes. It wiggled its way out of the crack and stared up at them while tilting its head. They could see now that it had only two fins, a blue dorsal and pelvic fin, and a long tail that stayed inside of its little den. How long exactly the tail was, they couldn't see.

"Now what's such a cute little pokemon doing in such a dangerous dungeon?" Quill asked. "What's your name, little guy?"

The tiny fish wiggled its tail frantically, but didn't say anything. The mouth wasn't visible, though they assumed it must have one, but it didn't seem capable of speaking. Considering its response by wagging its tail, they guessed it must understand them anyway.

"Do you just hide in that little hole all the time?" Aamira asked it.

It looked towards Aamira and, once again, the little pokemon started to wag its tail frantically, but didn't say anything.

"You don't think it's stuck do you?" Quill asked Aamira.

The little fish pokemon turned to look at Quill and nodded its head.

"Oh you poor little thing." Aamira said. "Hold on, I'll help you out of there."

Aamira reached towards the little fish pokemon and, as soon as the tip of her paw brushed against the scales, the little pokemon's tail wrapped around her wrist. In that same second, the rocks were thrown apart and a huge pokemon that was at least three feet larger than Aamira appeared at the other end at the tiny pokemon's tail.

With Aamira still locked in its grip, the pokemon used Crunch and clamped onto her arm. Aamira used a series of Force Palms to try to get it off. Quill ran to help Aamira, but a second pink pokemon appeared through the hole where the first had been hiding. The pink pokemon used Aqua Tail. Quill would have flown a lot farther than he did had he been on land rather than underwater.

Aamira used Aura Sphere, but the pokemon attacking her still wouldn't release its grip, even close up. Quill used swift on the one he was battling. The pokemon used Hydro Pump, which Quill was just barely able to dodge. Quill used Eruption, forgetting that his fire type attacks wouldn't work underwater. Surprisingly, the lava acted differently than most of his other fire type attacks. The lava hardened and buried the pokemon in the rubble. After a bit of squirming, the serpent-like pokemon managed to get free only to be hit by a Rollout that was strengthened by the currents it caused.

The pokemon was thrown back and the one clamped into Aamira's arm finally released her and swam after the other pokemon with a shout of "Gorebyss!"

Quill was panting and it looked like he was about to collapse. "Under water that Eruption took a lot more out of me. And the friction caused by the water during Rollout didn't help either."

"My attacks worked just fine, but that Gorebyss didn't seem to feel a thing." Aamira said.

"No, the pokemon I was fighting was Gorebyss. The one that attacked you was Huntail. It doesn't make much sense though; Huntail said Gorebyss's name, so I can see why you made the mistake…"

"But the question here is why it could say Gorebyss's name." Aamira concluded. "Those weren't normal dungeon pokemon. What's going on around here?"

Unable to come up with an explanation, the two of them continued through the dungeon. They figured that Kingdra would be able to give them some idea of what was going on when they met her if she really had woken up like Slowking had said.

They noticed that the coral in the forest slowly started to turn from pink to blue, which must have meant that they had been getting close. The traps and pokemon remained as numerous as ever, though luckily they had managed to find a few secluded areas where they could hide long enough to recover some of their strength. When they reached the end of the dungeon, they were met with a discouraging sight. Right at the end was a series of giant underwater geysers.

It almost looked pretty in a way. Large amounts of smoke and bubbles were rising out of the geysers and ascending along the wall of a cliff until they reached the branches of the tree-like corals above them where they would spread out in all directions creating a sort of lake of bubbles caught in the branches of the coral. They realized that this must have been the backwards flowing waterfall that they had heard of some time ago from Vaporeon.

"The backwards flowing waterfall." Aamira said. "So that's what Vaporeon was talking about. Maybe there's more to the dungeon up above it."

"I thought that the temperature was rising and now I see why." Quill said. "What do we do now? That water looks really hot. It probably wouldn't bother me, but it might burn you pretty badly."

"Hmm…" Aamira looked around and finally found something that looked like a thin slate of compressed coral. She picked it up and threw it at the geyser. It held and stayed straight, blocking the bubbles from rising above it. They watched as the coral slab floated to the top of the lake.

Quill walked over to another one and held it up. "Looks like it should hold. Think we can ride these?"

"What other choice do we have?" Aamira positioned herself in front of the slab of coral, waiting until Quill jumped on it to place it over the stream of bubbles from the geysers. Aamira ran towards the geyser and jumped on the slab at the same time. The slab got caught in the stream and the two of them rose at an alarming rate towards the lake above them.

They shot above the lake of bubbles where the slab remained floating on top like some sort of boat next to the other slab of coral.

Quill was shaking even though he knew what was about to happen. "Let's try to find an alternate path back when we're done here…"

Aamira nodded in agreement.

Quill used the heat on his back to propel them through the lake until they were far enough away from the geysers that the water wouldn't be too hot to touch. The two of them jumped back through the lake and floated to the top of the cliff. Behind them was the waterfall that was covering the entire path. There was definitely no way that either of them would be able to go back through that way.

As they walked, they became slowly aware that the coral had started to change color again, this time from blue to purple. Not only the color, but the shape also became slowly more erratic. Neither of them knew what this could mean, but the coral was starting to grow increasingly denser and it became more and more difficult to pass through. Though they hadn't realized it at first, they soon started to realize that they hadn't seen a single pokemon or trap since passing the waterfall. A foreboding sign, for sure, but it had to be a sign that they were getting closer to the end.

Finally they managed to get to the end of the dungeon. There they found an unusual sight. The coral was warped in a way that it made the area seem like it was in a perfect dome. In front of them near the center of the dome were two trees of coral. When they got closer, they realized that there was a pokemon wrapped up in the branches of the coral. The coral had grown so much that all that was visible of the pokemon that was suspended there was the head and the tail. Most of it was purple like the coral it was encased in except for the very tip of its tail and its coral-like horns which were each tipped with blue.

"Is that Kingdra?" Quill asked.

"Must be." Aamira said. "There's no one else here. But she looks like she's in a pretty deep sleep, so I don't think she was the one causing the Whirlpools after all. So what now, do we go back?"

"What other choice to we have? There's nothing else to do here."

The two of them turned to leave. Just as they turned, they heard what sounded like a loud sneeze and the two of them were caught in a Twister and thrown against the coral on opposite sides of the dome.

They looked back at Kingdra who seemed to be struggling against the coral that encased her. Her eyes opened slowly and she looked around at them as if her vision was blurred and she could just barely make out her surroundings. Her eyes suddenly shot open fully and the water around her shimmered as a strong wave of energy passed through it. The coral cracked and shattered instantly and Kingdra floated to the ground.

"You!" she shouted. "Were you sent by Slowking!"

"Y-Yea, we were…" Quill said nervously. "He sent us to keep you from waking up."

"Traitors! Scum! Enemies of the worst kind! You'll pay for what you've done as will Slowking after I've finished with you!" Kingdra used Dragon Pulse and knocked the two of them back into the coral again. It was obvious then that there had been some sort of big misunderstanding.

"Hold on!" Aamira shouted. "We didn't come here to fight you. Could you just explain to us what's happened?"

"As if you don't know!" Kingdra used Hydro Pump on Aamira. It was obvious that they wouldn't be able to reason with her.

Quill used Rollout, but Kingdra was easily able to stop his attack with another Hydro Pump. Kingdra swam around them in a single circle creating a huge Whirlpool that completely destroyed the coral around them.

Aamira used a Series of Aura Spheres which, at the very least, seemed to do a decent amount of damage. Kingdra, who still seemed slow and groggy compared to her usual speed, finally managed to dodge out of the way of one of her attacks and counterattack with Twister.

Aamira used Drain Punch, which Kingdra was easily able to dodge. While she had distracted Kingdra, Quill used Rollout to attack from behind. He managed to attack Kingdra a few times in quick succession before she eventually dodge out of the way and he ran into one of the few standing trees of coral and knocked it down in the process.

Kingdra used Whirlpool again, this time a much stronger version now that she was fully awake. The two of them, now trapped in the center of the whirlpool, frantically tried to attack Kingdra through the whirlpool, though the light distorted her image and made it difficult to tell where she really was. Aamira managed to land an attack with Aura Sphere and they were released from the whirlpool.

Kingdra roared and hit them both with her strongest Dragon Pulse. The two of them were thrown back and were just barely able to hold onto the ground to keep from being thrown farther away. Behind them was a huge cavity where a coral forest used to be. Kingdra was even stronger than they had heard and she seemed to be fully capable of controlling her power in spite of what Slowking had said.

Kingdra was charging up another strong Dragon Pulse. Aamira stood up weakly and, seeing no other way out of this, attacked with Sucker Punch just as Kingdra let loose her attack. Kingdra shouted as the power of her Sucker Punch was combined with Dragon Pulse. She collapsed on the ground as did Aamira only seconds later.

"I won't let you seal me away again. Your king will never get away with this." Kingdra's fin and tail twitched and the water around her shimmered as she righted herself in the water.

"Would you listen to us?" Quill said. "It's true that Slowking sent us here to put you back to sleep, but that was under the belief that you had already woken up and you were still asleep by the time we got here…"

"And what difference does that make!" Kingdra was about to use Hydro Pump. Quill flinched and Aamira tried to stand up to protect him, but she couldn't move an inch. Suddenly Kingdra stopped her attack and seemed to look at them for the first time. "You two. You're not water types. How is it that you can breathe down here?"

"Because of these." Aamira managed to lift her head just enough so Kingdra could see the Water's Mark that she still had around her neck.

Kingdra swam back, creating small twisters in her wake that quickly died down and bowed her head. "So it's true. Ambassadors of the Sea Temple."

"That's not it exactly." Quill said. "We helped them a while back and they gave us these as a reward. Then there were a bunch of whirlpools and earthquakes that kept doing a lot of damage in Ignis and Aequor so we came down here to investigate. Slowking told us that it must be cause by you waking up so he sent us here with a Slumber Orb to make you go back to sleep."

"Is that so?" Kingdra said. "What exactly is it that Slowking told you?"

"He said that you were his best friend and that he had been trying to protect you by making you fall asleep in the Coral Forest where no pokemon would bother you. He did it so your yawning wouldn't accidentally cause whirlpools and no one would chase you out of Aequor."

Kingdra laughed. Her laugh sounded crazed and high pitched. "A friend of mine? Protecting me? He even had the nerve to suggest that someone would try to chase me of all people out of Aequor. Now I see what's going on. Believe me; Slowking is no friend to me or you if he had to lie to you to get you to come here."

"So if that's true, then what's going on?" Quill asked.

"We were both the only available heirs to the throne for our two families. We competed vigorously against one another. I spent days meditating in the backwards flowing waterfall, honing my skills so that I would be able to use my abilities with the utmost precision. Dragon Scales are no rare items for my family; I had been given one the day I was born in preparation for the day when I could confidently say I was ready for evolution.

"When I felt that the day had come, it happened to be the same day that Slowking finally found a Shelder who would become his crown. I managed to evolve moments before him and hurried back to Pearl. I was accepted as the king of Aequor, but Slowking wouldn't hear it. In his mind it had been too close to call even though I had returned six minutes before he had. It was some time after that that I heard about a child who had been trapped in the Coral Forest. I had feared that it had been due to my own actions while training here and that I had somehow caused the child to become trapped here

"I ran off to the Coral Forest only to find Slowking waiting here. Had I expected him to do such a thing, he wouldn't have stood a chance. Many of the more vicious pokemon had been counting on him becoming king and didn't agree with what had happened. They ambushed me here. I wounded many of them, but was eventually worn down by the sneak attack. Slowking used his psychic powers and caused me to fall asleep. After that I assume that he planted pieces of a Corsola's coral here to keep me in a dormant state." She looked down at her tail which only had a small amount of blue left on it. "It would seem that I've retained quite a bit of energy while asleep. Enough, at least, to change both my color and the color of the coral around me."

"So you're the real king of Aequor after all." Aamira said. "I knew something seemed funny about all of this."

"I must say though, I'm surprised that the coral could have grown so much over the couple of days I've been stuck here."

Aamira was silent for a moment. "It's been longer than that." She finally said. "It's been a few years at least."

"What!" Kingdra stared at her as if she was crazy and looked around the forest. It suddenly became clear to her that what Aamira had said was true.

"And you'll be asleep for longer than that." The three of them looked around and Kingdra was hit in the back by an Ice Beam. Kingdra fought it as hard as she could, but she had used up too much of her energy when attacking Aamira and Quill in her blind rage. Before long the Ice Beam had frozen her to the core.

Out of the ruined piles of coral behind Kingdra, Milotic swam towards them. Aamira and Quill struggled to their feet, ready to fight again if they had to.

"So serious, aren't we?" She said to them. "It was interesting to hear the full details of what had happened between Kingdra and Slowking, but unfortunately that was the limit of her use. That and dealing such a large amount of damage to the two of you. I knew that Huntail and Gorebyss wouldn't be strong enough to beat you, but it was worth a shot if there was a way to get rid of you and keep Kingdra asleep at the same time.

"So this was all your doing!" Quill shouted. "You were the one setting those traps and getting pokemon to attack us under the orders of your false king!"

"Don't make me laugh. Slowking is twice the king that Kingdra would have ever been."

Milotic hit the two of them with Aqua Tail. The two of them fell to the ground and this time they weren't able to stand again. Milotic wrapped her tail around the two of them and swam off.

"Truthfully I'm impressed that the two of you are still conscious. It's true that I had started to take a liking to the two of you, but orders are orders. I suppose that no one would complain if I sent you into a current leading to the frigid northern seas.

Aamira and Quill struggled just to move, but it was obvious that escape was impossible. Milotic swam towards a current of water and floated as close to it as she could without being sucked in herself. She threw them both towards the current and at the last second wrapped her tail around their Water Marks, pulling them off of their necks and sending them drifting into the frigid northern waters.

Aamira and Quill coughed as the water in their lungs suddenly felt like water again. The two of them coughed and tried to hold their breath, but they both eventually lost consciousness.


	41. Chapter 41 Team Sirocco

The first thing Aamira became aware of was the unforgiving sun that seemed to be roasting her alive. The second thing she noticed was a salty taste in her mouth and a terrible thirst. The third thing that she noticed was the voice that seemed to be speaking to her. It was definitely male and high pitched. Quill? No, it was someone else.

She wanted to open her eyes, but just couldn't bring herself to do it. She felt something wet on her forehead and after a while finally managed to force herself to wake up.

"Oh thank goodness, one of you finally woke up." The pokemon standing above her was brown and had a huge nose. Just by looking at it, it seemed like a nice pokemon though it didn't seem very powerful. "Oh, and there's the other one too! What a relief!"

Aamira turned her head to the side and saw that on her right Quill had just woken up. He had a wet piece of cloth on his head like Aamira assumed that she did also.

Aamira forced herself to sit up. She felt dizzy and her limbs felt heavy like lead. It took her a moment to realize that the reason for her weighed down body was because they were no longer underwater. That combined with her fatigue from battling made it difficult to move.

Quill sat up next to her. He seemed to be suffering from the same fatigued feeling that she was. "Where are we?" he asked.

A good question. Up until then, Aamira hadn't even noticed that they were surrounded by sand. A few feet away from them was a large river and far into the distance was what appeared to be a forest. This wasn't a place that either of them were familiar with.

"You're right in the middle of the Quartz Desert." The pokemon that rescued them said. "I found your Aura Glasses inside your bags and realized that you must be an Investigation Team from across the ocean. I have no idea how it is that you got here, but it looks like the river carried you here."

"The river?" Aamira said. "We were underwater… But I thought that current was supposed to send us to the frigid north."

"Well, a lot of currents have been messed up lately." He said. "The one that normally flows north now flows west. I'm Hippopotas, by the way. I'm a co-leader of my own Investigation Team, Team Sirocco. Me and my team were trying to fulfill a dream that we've had for a long time by coming out to the Quartz Desert, but we hit another dead end. That's when I noticed something strange floating in the river. My teammates should be back in town by now to tell everyone what happened. If you two don't have anywhere else to go right now, would you want to come back with me?"

Aamira and Quill glanced at each other. It was true that they had nowhere else to go, but was Hippopotas really a pokemon that they could trust? Although being stranded out in a place they didn't know didn't help. What choice did they have?

"Yea, sure." Aamira said. "My name's Aamira, by the way, and this is Quill."

"It's a little strange seeing a friendly face after everything we've gone through." Quill said. "Sorry if we seemed a little apprehensive."

Hippopotas laughed. "Oh it's no problem! I've heard from the Wingull that there's been a lot of trouble in the east lately. It makes sense, though I'm sure that back in town a lot of people would be equally apprehensive about the two of you. Oh! I almost forgot!" Hippopotas handed both of them canteens filled with water. "If you swallowed a lot of salt water then you're probably really dehydrated. Wandering around in a desert probably wouldn't be good for you without fresh water."

The two of them gratefully drank some of the water and followed Hippopotas through the desert. Aamira and Quill couldn't believe that they had actually been stranded in the middle of the desert after floating through the river. Hippopotas seemed really nice too. Their initial misgivings faded when they realized that Hippopotas couldn't have been much older than Quill.

While they walked, the three of them started talking about their live as Investigation Teams. Hippopotas seemed amazed when he heard about some of the things that they had done. They found out shortly after that his team was Silver Rank. He was greatly impressed by their Diamond Rank.

"I guess that's what the oracle was talking about!" Hippopotas said. "The great oracle, Bibarel, said she saw diamond in the Quartz Desert. I guess she was talking about the two of you instead of what we were looking for."

"What is it that you were looking for?" Quill asked. "You mentioned before that you were trying to fulfill a dream by coming here."

"Yes! Our wonderful dream!" Hippopotas spun around towards them and stopped them from taking another step. "Our dream to find the legend of the great desert! The pokemon made of pure diamond, the Crystal Onix!"

"Crystal Onix?" Aamira said. "Could such a thing really exist?"

"Actually it doesn't seem too farfetched." Quill said. "Onix are usually made up of whatever the rock around them is. If there was a large amount of diamond buried somewhere, it would be possible."

"You really think so?" Hippopotas said happily as they continued walking. "Once when I was really little I thought I saw something shimmering and swimming through the sand. Grandpa told me it was the Crystal Onix, but no one would ever believe him except me. Ever since I've been looking for it to prove it exists. Two of my three fellow team members joined for the same reason. The fourth joined in the hopes of finding the cave filled with diamonds that the Crystal Onix was said to live in. There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose, as long as she doesn't take all of the diamonds. If all of those diamonds were found, they'd be as valuable as glass anyway."

The city they were headed for was pretty small, though it would have to be since it was built in the middle of the desert. On the edge of the city were large numbers of fruit trees, each being tended to groups of Lombre who were swarming in and out of the city to and from the river, carrying water in the leaves on their heads to make sure the trees had enough to survive.

There were numerous shops with colorful banners hanging over them, both to provide the venders with shade and to draw attention. Their merchandise was all displayed clearly, which to Quill and Aamira seemed like a perfectly good way to have your stuff get stolen. Quite a few of them sold jewelry or other trinkets, all of which seemed to be made of real gold or silver and gemstones.

"It's usually not this busy around here." Hippopotas said. "A group of nomadic traders usually comes here once a year, sometimes more to buy and sell things with the town's people. Bibarel is one of the people who travels with them. Instead of paying for her services, she'll predict the future for any sort of trade. She's really nice too."

"It all seems so cheerful around here." Aamira said. "Things have been a bit hectic back in Ignis, but it was a lot like this before that last earthquake hit. They're right in the middle of the spring festival right now."

"Ah, that sounds like fun!" Hippopotas said with a smile. "Oh, there's the rest of my team up there!"

Near the center of town was a large well filled with water. In front of the well was a large wooden board with papers which they took to be job requests posted on it. In front of the bulletin board were three other pokemon, a Gabite, Cacturne, and Infernape.

"Hey, team!" Hippopotas shouted. "I'm back and I found out what the diamond was!"

The three of them turned to their leader and ran towards him. Hippopotas didn't look like much compared to the other three, but he must have been a lot stronger than he looked if the others all respected him so highly.

"Well, let's not talk here in the sun. Let's go to the café." Hippopotas said.

The café was spacious and just sunny enough to see by, in a building made of sand like the rest of the city. They had the most amazing fruit drinks made from mixing the numerous types of fruits that grew outside of the city. The usual favorite of the pokemon living there was one with a large amount of pineapple, which Quill and Aamira soon decided to add to their list of favorites as well.

"So that's what Bibarel meant!" Gabite said. "A diamond rank Investigation Team was stranded out there. Can't imagine the events that led up to that if you really came to Silex from Aequor like you say."

"But I've been wondering something." Quill said. "Infernape, aren't you the same Infernape from Team Blazer?"

Infernape glared at Quill. "Team Blazer! Who needs them! I bet they've been saying that they kicked me out, right? Wrong! We went our separate ways as part of a mutual agreement. We came here on a mission a while back and I became obsessed with the cave full of diamonds. I know it wouldn't be worth much if it was found, but I still want to find it to prove them wrong. I've changed since I last saw you two. Now I'm a fully dedicated member of Team Sirocco."

"Well I'm glad for you and everything, but… what are you going to do after you all find the Crystal Onix and its cave?" Aamira asked.

"Hadn't really thought about it." Hippopotas admitted. "I'm hoping that seeing the Crystal Onix will somehow point us in the direction of a new dream."

"So what are you two going to do?" Gabite asked. They assumed that he was either a co-leader or second in command. "I doubt that the Wailord would take you home since Aequor has full jurisdiction over what they transport. There is a boat, but it only leaves port once a month and right now it's off on a voyage to the north."

"You missed it by days, unfortunately." Cacturne said. "Hey, why don't you go see the great oracle, Bibarel? She told us about the two of you, so maybe she can tell you some way to get home. You'll need something to trade though."

"I'm sure we could talk with her about it." Aamira said. "We'll figure out what to trade when we get there."

Infernape and Cacturne stayed behind on standby while Hippopotas and Gabite accompanied Aamira and Quill to see Bibarel. Apparently they were still after information on the Crystal Onix. Unlike the other merchants, Bibarel was waiting inside of a cushioned covered wagon. It seemed strange at first but after a while they realized that it was most likely to both add to the atmosphere and because she couldn't display the future on a merchant's stand. Bibarel was obviously the oldest member of the caravan and seemingly the wisest from talk that they had heard of her on the way there. She was covered in amazing jewelry, not a single piece of which looked fake.

"I see you found your diamonds." She said to Hippopotas with a slight smile.

"You know, you did avoid the question earlier." Gabite said. "We asked you where we could find the Crystal Onix, not where we could find diamond. We figured that you were just speaking in riddles like you're well known for, but there was no Onix there, diamond or otherwise."

Bibarel laughed. "Oh you're so quick to jump to conclusions my young friend. It is these two who will help you to find the Onix you're searching for. Would you two like me to read your future?"

"If you could tell us how to get home." Quill said. "We think something bad is going to happen in Ignis and Aequor and we have to get back to stop it."

"I understand." Bibarel said. "I have seen that too. Your journey to find your way back home will start with Hippopotas and his friends. I can tell you the rest if you'd like, but I can't offer my services for free. If I did then anyone I get coming in here would ask for the same."

"We have a bunch of items in our bags." Quill said.

"Any apples?" she asked. "Apples are uncommon here in the desert. Most of what we have are the spikey pineapples that get difficult for me to peel in my old age."

"I have two with me." Aamira said.

"Same here." Quill said.

The two of them took out the apples and placed them on the ground in front of Bibarel. Bibarel sniffed at them. "A bit salty, aren't they? To be expected, I suppose, from one who traveled here under the waves. I'll accept your offer if you throw in the Riolu's metal collar. Good metalwork is always a good thing to keep an eye out for."

"But it doesn't come off." Aamira said.

"Oh don't be silly." Bibarel opened up a wooden chest near where she was sitting and pulled out a white key. "This will open any lock, even if they've been rusted shut."

Bibarel threw the key to Aamira. She hadn't even agreed to Bibarel's terms yet, but if she really was a psychic then maybe she already knew that she would agree if it meant a way to get back home.

Still it didn't seem right to part with it. That collar reminded Aamira of her time when she was captured by bounty hunters. Now that Togekiss was remaining as silent as ever and their entire team had gone missing, aside from Aamira and Quill themselves, it didn't seem right to part with it just yet. And yet, if she didn't give it to Bibarel, they would never get back to find them.

Aamira unlocked the collar and took it off. She removed the Nightmare Gem from the ring, put it back around her neck, and handed the collar to Bibarel.

Bibarel looked over the collar for a moment. "Yes, this is very nice and pure iron. Extremely difficult to refine at times. Could be worth quite a bit if melted down into a chain for a pendent. I'm thinking Amethyst for the gemstone." Bibarel took the four apples and set them along with the metal collar in one of the many treasure chests. "And yes, I know what this collar means to you. I'm sure that in the near future you'll be able to fulfill the promise you made back then."

Aamira was about to ask what she meant, but decided that it wasn't really important at the present time. They waited for Bibarel to tell them their futures, but instead she seemed to fall asleep. Aamira and Quill decided to wait a while since Hippopotas and Gabite both seemed to be used to this happening.

After a while, Bibarel opened one of her eyes and stared at them. "Still here, are you?"

"Well, we really need to get home." Quill said. "Aren't you going to tell us how?"

"I've already given you a way to get home." Bibarel said. "Ah, but the future is so clear to me compared to most, I suspect. One more hint then, I suppose? In the Marble Valley where the sun touches the earth, follow the serpent's trail. When the desert is surpassed by an unlikely place, search for one of stone and fire. Follow the tongue into the jaws of the earth and find the secret of the reversed river. There, Azure and Crimson shall show the way to a manifestation of pure spirit."

"Well that's some riddle." Aamira said. "How are we supposed to figure that out?"

"The Marble Valley!" Hippopotas said. "That's a dungeon to the northwest of here. We should head there to see what we can find."

"I'll come too." Gabite said. "It's important for me to find the Crystal Onix. Everyone else should remain here on standby so our combined team won't be too large."

Hippopotas nodded. "I agree. I'll inform Wingull in case something happens and we have to send a message quickly."

"What about the rest of the riddle?" Quill asked.

"Bibarel's predictions are always right. We'll just have to trust we'll figure out the rest as we investigate the dungeon." Hippopotas said.

When they first told Infernape and Cacturne about what Bibarel had told them, they had both been extremely reluctant to stay behind now that they had another lead. After a while of convincing, they both grudgingly agreed to wait for Hippopotas to return to investigate the cave that Onix was said to live in if they really did find it in the Marble Valley.

Fortunately, the Marble Valley was a lot closer than the Quartz Desert. They noticed along the way that there was another river flowing along the side of it.

"It's actually a part of the same river I found the two of you by." Hippopotas said. "It branches off right before it reaches the town. I'm guessing that this river is the one that Bibarel mentioned in her riddle. A long time ago this river used to flow from inland into the ocean, but now it flows in reverse. The other river that branches off of it still flows in the right direction, which causes a large whirlpool where the two rivers connect."

"Why did it start flowing in reverse?" Quill asked.

"No one knows." Gabite said. "According to legend, there used to be something that made the river flow towards the sea. Where the two rivers met was where it often overflowed making the ground fertile. The something that made the river flow in the right direction was called the Mirage Oasis, a place that very few people ever saw, even if they went to the place it was said to be, hence the name."

"Of course it's all just legend." Hippopotas said. "You never know though. If this does have something to do with the secret behind the river, maybe there's something to that oasis after all."

It had been late in the afternoon when they had departed. The setting sun cast a strange red light across the desert that made it almost appear to glow. Before the sand dunes hadn't been so evident due to the location of the sun at the time, but now chilling shadows crossed over the desert, casting them into semidarkness on the far side of a dune.

Hippopotas stopped them on top of an especially high hill covered in dunes. Off in the distance were a few mountains that were white and gleaming in the center. Hippopotas informed them that it was their destination. Even though it had come into view, they knew it was a lot farther than it seemed to be, so they decided to set up camp on the far side of the hill. Gabite left and returned a while later with some dry desert plants that they used in place of fire wood. Apparently in spite of the stifling heat of day, it got really cold at night.

Aamira and Gabite were chosen as the first two to stay up to keep watch from any sneak attacks from bandits or other hostiles.

"So do you get a lot of bandits here?" Aamira asked.

Gabite nodded. "It's the main income for most Investigation Teams in Silex. Most people don't travel much. Those that do are usually one of three types of people; nomadic traders, daring adventurers, or bandits. Life as an Investigation Team is preferable to me though, since we get to deal with all three; saving or assisting adventurers, collecting items or escorting caravans for traders, and hunting down bandits. Not only is there a greater sense of duty, in my eyes at least, but it's a great way to gather information about happenings across the country. Bibarel, for instance, was someone we met when escorting the traders' caravan."

"So you do it in order to find information on the Crystal Onix?" Aamira asked. "Hippopotas says he's looking for it to prove his grandpa wasn't a liar, but why are you searching for it?"

Gabite clawed at the sand and stared off towards the Marble Valley. He had grown suddenly tense and quiet compared to how he had acted before.

"I'm sorry." Aamira said hastily. "Did I say something I shouldn't have?"

Gabite jumped and stared at her as if suddenly remembering that she was there. "No, of course not! It's a natural question to ask. It happened so long ago that I suppose I should tell someone aside from Hippopotas." He turned to look towards the Marble Valley again, his seriousness from before suddenly returning.

"To be honest, I don't remember much of what happened. I was told that it was most likely because of the shock and my desire to block out that unpleasant memory at the time. I grew up in a hidden valley on the far side of the desert that was inhabited by Garchomp's tribe. Garchomp was not only our matriarch, but also my father. In ancient times, we had been chased to this valley by bandits who wanted to steal and sell our scales, which can be ground up and made into a cure-all medicine. We thought that we were safe, but in our inherent fear, we detested contact with the outside world.

"I was one of the few who wanted to know what was outside the valley. Every day I would sit at the peak of the tallest mountain and stare out at the world beyond wondering what was out there. Though my memory from this time is faint, I remember that during this time I had started to venture outside of the village on a regular basis. I can't remember much from that point on, but one night our village was attacked. Everything had gone up in flames and there was so much chaos. Aside from that, I remember only one thing distinctly."

Gabite reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of a diamond. "I vaguely remember it, truthfully, but it was the best memory I had of that night. Looking back on it, it seems like a still picture. Towering high over me with its back to me, an Onix made out of Crystal with the light of the flames shining through its translucent body in perfect contrast with the smoky black sky. I don't know how that Onix fits in with all of this, but it's the one thing I clearly remember."

"So what happened to the residents of the village?" Aamira wondered if maybe she was asking too much.

"Gone." He said simply. "I don't remember much of the next few weeks. Apparently a group of traders noticed the smoke when the sun started to rise and went to check it out. They found me collapsed underneath a rockslide that they say may have saved me from whatever disaster befell the village. I didn't talk for a week straight. I remember nothing from the first few days and very little of the rest of that week. I just stared off into space with this crystal always clenched in my hand. After that week I had regained a good deal of my senses and one of the members of their troupe told me the story about the Crystal Onix, who was said to be the guardian of the desert." Gabite clenched the crystal tightly in his hand. "I have no idea if any of my tribe members are still alive and I doubt that it was the Onix that would do something like this being the guardian of the desert, but it's the only lead to finding out what happened that night."

"Ah, I think I understand." Aamira said.

"Oh really?" Gabite said in a skeptical tone.

"It seemed like something you wanted to forget at the time, so you forgot it. In spite of that, there's always that hint of doubt as to why you wanted to forget. What exactly was it that happened? There's no way to know. You mentioned that you vaguely remember leaving the village multiple times before this, so maybe you even feel like you might have had something to do with it."

Gabite seemed somewhat surprised that she had figured so much out. "Hippopotas is… a bit of a fanatic child… He's so preoccupied by trying to find the Onix that I doubt he's ever had much of a reason to try to figure that much out about me. It's nice to meet someone who understands."

"You could say I understand, or you could say that I relate." Aamira turned away from his enquiring glance. "Oh, it's not much really. I guess you could say that I have a certain interest in cases like this."

"I see…" Aamira wondered how much he really saw.

"So the Crystal Onix is the guardian of the desert, right?" Aamira asked Hippopotas the next morning. They had gotten up when the sun was just below the horizon so they could set off before it got too hot.

"According to legend, at least." Hippopotas said. "Apparently somewhere beneath the desert is a giant oasis in the center of a subterranean world. It's always a pleasant temperature, there's lots of water, lots of plant life and the food that comes with it. There are unique pokemon that live down there like the Crystal Onix and supposedly a castle made of silver. At the back of the castle is a path that leads to a cave full of crystals where the Onix sleeps. I'd assume that it's sort of like an ambassador to that hidden kingdom. I can't imagine what the king would be like if that were true."

"It's all so mysterious, but it really does just sound like some fairy tale…" Quill said uncertainly.

"It's not a fairy tale!" Hippopotas shouted angrily. "I've seen it with my own eyes! I don't know if any of that stuff about an underground oasis kingdom is true, but the Onix definitely is real!"

"Alright! Alright!" Quill said hastily. "I mean, Bibarel didn't seem to deny that it did exist, so I guess it's possible. It seems like finding that Onix might be our way to get home too, so we don't really have any choice in believing in it."

They reached the valley, but there didn't seem to be anything there aside from the valley. It was starting to feel hotter by the minute, but no matter how hard they looked, they couldn't find the dungeon entrance. Eventually Hippopotas had to admit that he had only heard of this dungeon before and had never actually been to Marble Valley.

"There's some sort of trick to get the door to open." Gabite said. "I'm sure of it. It's no secret that there's a dungeon here, supposedly right in the center of this valley, and yet there aren't many people who know how to get inside."

"Well, no point in searching for something if we don't know the secret." Aamira said. "Why don't we eat some breakfast and keep searching afterwards.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Quill said. "We should head back to town if we don't figure it out in the next hour so we can leave before it gets too hot.

Hippopotas nodded in agreement and the four of them sat down for breakfast. While Quill and Aamira were busy talking to Gabite, Hippopotas decided to look around a bit more as soon as he had finished eating. At this point, the sun had just risen above the sand dune that they had stayed the night on.

Near the edge of the valley where there had been a large rockslide, Hippopotas noticed something strange. The sun had just started to shine on the top of the rockslide, but the part that it reached had suddenly turned invisible. Hippopotas watched in wonder as the slow progression of the sun slowly started to sink down the large mound of rocks, causing them to vanish slowly behind it.

"Hey guys!" Hippopotas shouted. "I think I found something!"

The other three ran over to see what he was shouting about. It took them a moment to notice that the entire top of the rockslide was cut off in a perfectly horizontal line.

"An illusion of some sort?" Aamira placed her hand on one of the rocks. It felt solid, not like an illusion. "This is strange."

"This could be a genuine mirage." Gabite said. "My village was protected by something similar. Real mirages are something solid, but they only seem to be there. It also works in reverse; it can make something solid seem like it's not there at all. The mirages caused by heat waves and hallucinations are only named after the real thing. Each mirage has its weakness though and this one seems to dislike red light caused by sunrises and sunsets."

"Wow, so this is a real mirage!" Hippopotas said. "I've always wanted to see one of these. I thought that maybe one could protect the Crystal Onix's cave from bandits." His cheerful tone died down and he became much more serious. "But it couldn't be this one, could it? The dungeon here has been well known for a while so it couldn't be."

"But hey, at the very least we figured out the first part of Bibarel's riddle." Quill said. "'In the Marble Valley where the sun touches the earth, follow the serpent's trail.' Whatever the serpent's trail is, it must be behind this pile of stone."

They watched as the stones gradually vanished. Hidden behind them was an old polished oak door inside of a carved marble door frame. Embedded in the marble above the door was a large Aquamarine gem with a smaller Sapphire and Ruby on each side of it. The door itself had a marble lock that kept it from opening.

"So what now?" Quill asked.

"Oh!" Aamira dug in her bag before finding the key that Bibarel had given her. "She mentioned before that she gave us a way to get back home. I guess she meant this key."

"She did say that it would open any lock." Hippopotas said. "A key like that is pretty rare; you should keep it with you."

Aamira stepped up to the door and used the key on the lock. She heard the lock click and pulled on the iron ring. The door opened smoothly with no creaking, as if the hinges had been oiled recently and often before then. Behind the door was a staircase made of marble with a carved oak handrail with designs that matched the ones on the door. It almost felt as if they were walking into some sort of palace. For a moment Aamira wondered if Hippopotas's story about a subterranean kingdom could be true.

They walked down the staircase and followed a winding corridor before entering the main part of the dungeon. Most of the dungeon on the first few floors was made of Marble. As they descended farther down, the Marble was gradually replaced with sandstone. The whole dungeon was dim, lit only by a few scattered torches that they would find every now and then.

They continued along for a while before Hippopotas stopped and sniffed at the air. Gabite stopped and watched him intensely, which immediately got Aamira and Quill's attention.

"What is it?" Gabite asked.

"That scent." Hippopotas said. "It's that scent again."

Gabite's face suddenly lit up. "Really? You smell the Crystal Onix?"

"Wait, smell?" Aamira asked.

"Hippopotas is prized as a prodigy when it comes to Investigating. He's led Team Sirocco through over 200 successful missions, but the clients are always amazed and how unaware he is of his successes. All he ever really cares about is the Crystal Onix and seems to think of any other mission as child's play." Gabite turned towards Hippopotas who was now walking around the apparent dead end room they had found, alternating between smelling the ground and the air. "Even for a Hippopotas, he has a remarkable sense of smell and taste. Those senses come in handy in the desert where many bandits and poison types live. Apparently he got the scent of the Crystal Onix when he first saw it, even at the distance, and smelled it twice since then; once when he came close to finding it again, and once when he met me. That was why I formed Team Sirocco with him in the first place."

Aamira remembered the story he had told her last night. It must have been a huge thing for Gabite to find out that the Onix that he could just vaguely remember was possibly real. It was a perfectly rational reason to form an Investigation Team with someone. She got the impression that Hippopotas was a little bizarre, but even so he seemed like a good leader.

"So he smells the Crystal Onix?" Quill asked.

Gabite nodded. "Most likely the 'serpent's trail' that Bibarel had mentioned. Instead of some gouged out bit of earth caused by an Onix as I had expected it to be, it was actually a scent trail of an Onix."

"So there's probably another dungeon connecting to this one somewhere." Aamira said. "Should we check for other entrances with our Aura Glasses?"

"Don't waste your time." Gabite said. "The sandstone is too thick and dense to see through clearly."

"But what if there's another mirage?" Quill asked. "What if there's a false wall somewhere that only looks like sandstone?"

"I hadn't thought of that." Gabite said. "I suppose it's worth a try then."

"Hold on!" Hippopotas said, suddenly tense and poised for battle. "There's someone else hiding here. Their scent was being hidden by the scent of the Onix."

Aamira looked around, making sure that no dark corners were concealing anything. "I hate deserts. The sand is made mostly of Quartz, so I can't sense a thing."

"I don't see anything." Quill said.

"Could be invisible." Gabite suggested.

Aamira heard loud footsteps running towards her. She turned towards the sound and could only see a blurred form of the pokemon running towards her. "Young master, watch out!"

She screamed as the pokemon ran into her and knocked her out of the way just as the ceiling collapsed in the spot she had been standing. A giant purple pokemon stood in the center of the rubble.

The Typhlosion that had knocked Aamira out of the way turned to face the pokemon who was standing there. He pulled out a leather bound book and jotted down a few notes inside of it. "So the dungeon's guardian was a Drapion after all, just as you predicted, young master."

"I'm sorry, but… who are you?" Aamira asked.

The Typhlosion turned towards her with a surprised expression. He had three scars, most likely caused by claws, running across his nose and a few other, less obvious scars. "A female! I'm sorry; I mistook you for someone else." He turned towards the other members of their combined team. "And a Cyndaquil Aura Guardian too. How about that?"

Just as Quill was about to ask him how he knew he was an Aura Guardian, the Drapion attacked the Typhlosion. The Typhlosion grabbed the Drapion by the tail and with a bit of effort managed to flip it onto its back. It lashed out with its long arms, which Typhlosion was just barely able to dodge and the Drapion was able to roll over and get back up onto its feet.

The Typhlosion ran behind it and jumped onto the Drapion's back. He grabbed both of its arms and, without loosening his grip, dodged the poisonous tail while still balancing on its back. He managed to get both of the arms in one arm and caught the tail in the other. Jumping off of its back, he flipped the Drapion into the air and slammed it into the ground, knocking it out almost instantly.

"Not much of a dungeon's guardian." He said with a bored tone in his voice before turning back to Aamira. "Anyway, I'm sorry about the confusion. I saw a Riolu and a collapsing ceiling and didn't have the time to think you were someone else. There aren't many Riolu where me and the young master come from, after all."

"So who exactly are you?" Quill asked. "You knew I was an Aura Guardian, right?"

"Right." He said. "My name's Giga. I'm the world's greatest explorer. I knew you were an Aura Guardian because I'm one too. You must have only recently become sensitive to aura to not be able to tell. Most Guardians can point each other out in a large crowd, but only with experience."

"You said something about a master…" Aamira said. "They're a Riolu, like me?"

Giga nodded. "Again, I'm sorry for the mistake in identity. He's a bit eccentric. Just woke up one morning and kept going on about how he just had to find the secret to the river that somehow had its flow reversed and he just wouldn't stop pestering me until I agreed to take him here." He scratched at the scars on his nose, a possible habit that he had at some point picked up and started doing whenever he was annoyed. "And of course he ran off as soon as we got here, as usual. I really should be used to it by now. That's how Aura Readers are normally…"

'So that Riolu's an Aura Reader and this Typhlosion is an Aura Guardian." Aamira thought. 'What are the odds of that?'

"Anyway, look over there." Giga said, indicating the wall on the far side of the room. A door much like the one outside, only rimmed in Sandstone instead of Marble, had suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Mirages all have a sort of weakness, as I'm sure you realized with the one outside. This one seems to require the guardian to be conscious."

"Wow! Incredible!" Hippopotas said. "Thanks for your help. You're welcome to come along with us if you want. We're looking for the Crystal Onix!"

Giga raised a paw and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't. The door is still locked, so I doubt the young master has gone through there. I have to find him; he has a knack for attracting undesirable company. Besides, with him constantly running off like this, I'm more accustomed to working alone. Four companions is at the least three too many for me."

"Right, well thanks anyway." Gabite said. "I hope you find that friend of yours soon."

Giga ran off to find the dungeon's exit. Aamira wondered if Gabite somewhat sympathized with him considering what Hippopotas was like.

"Well come on!" Hippopotas said excitedly. "Unlock the door! I smell the Onix on the other side."

"Alright, alright, calm down." Aamira took out the key and walked up to the door. The lock clicked with a similar sound to the first door. She opened the door and a wave of hot air flowed over them.

"Seems like trouble." Gabite said. "The air feels humid. Ground types don't do so well in humid areas."

"I know what you mean, but we don't have much of a choice to keep going, do we?" Quill asked. "We need to find our way home and the two of you need to find the Crystal Onix."

"We can't give up now! The scent is even stronger now!" Hippopotas ran through the door and Gabite rushed in after him, anxiously trying to get him to slow down and wait for everyone.

As Aamira and Quill walked through the door, the Drapion got up and closed the door behind them. There was the sound of claws on stone and shifting rock as if the ceiling it had destroyed was being rebuilt in anticipation for other trespassers. Aamira tried to open the door again, but it was locked. There was nowhere to go but forward.


	42. Chapter 42 More Valuable Than Glass

The combined team of Team Sleuth and Sirocco had started to encounter difficulties in the second dungeon about halfway through. The sandstone slowly turned into a red and much harder metamorphic rock with the increasing heat and pressure. The farther down they went, the hotter it got. On top of that, an underground spring was apparently near the dungeon because small pools of water started to show up. While Hippopotas, Gabite and Quill were having trouble with the increasing number of water type pokemon, Aamira was getting frustrated with not being able to sense them coming.

"How long does this dungeon go on?" Gabite said while trying to catch his breath. "I didn't think it was possible, but it feels even hotter down here than in the desert…"

"Like the riddle?" Quill said. "You wouldn't expect the heat of the desert to be surpassed by a place with so much water."

"So next we should find 'one of stone and fire', right?" Aamira asked, equally as tired as the others. "But it's so hot down here…"

"Come on, team! We can't give up now!" Hippopotas seemed like the only one who wasn't tired in the least. Quill and Aamira couldn't see how he did it.

"Hey, why not letting us rest for a while?" Gabite snapped at him. "You said yourself that you lost the scent trail between floors a while back."

"I know!" Hippopotas said as cheerfully as ever. "I can't smell it now, but I feel like we're getting really close! I'm sure if we just keep going we'll find it!"

Gabite cast a knowing glance towards Aamira and Quill, which Hippopotas apparently didn't notice at all. The two of them nodded. If Hippopotas's intuition was as good as he said, there was no doubt that they were getting close. The three of them followed him slightly less grudgingly than before.

They continued walking for a while without encountering as much trouble as before. It seemed strange after fighting so many tough pokemon before then that they would all just suddenly disappear.

"Hold it, guys!" Aamira said suddenly. "I sense something really strong up ahead."

"The Crystal Onix!" Hippopotas blurted out excitedly.

Quill sniffed at the air. "I think I smell sulfur. There might be an underground volcano around here. But weren't you saying that you couldn't sense anything because of the quartz?" 

"That was earlier with the Drapion. This one's a lot stronger. The quartz must have absorbed some of the energy. It's impossible for me to tell exactly how strong it is or to sense its exact location, but it definitely feels strong."

"Let's be careful then." Gabite took the lead and walked through the next corridor into the final room. Apparently he was the muscle of Team Sirocco.

The final room of the dungeon was a large cave filled with water. The sides of the lake were rimmed by large stalagmites and stalactites. They had thought that the rest of the dungeon had been hot and humid, but it was nothing compared to this one. In the center of the room, cutting the lake in two was a large island covered in larger stalagmites and stalactites. The curved shape and the two stalactites on top that came down the farthest, resembling fangs, made it look like some sort of large mouth.

"That island there looks suspicious. Think that strong aura is coming from there?" Just as Gabite asked this, a low rumbling grown came from towards the island.

Hippopotas immediately hid behind the other three. "That's not the Crystal Onix…"

"Who dares intrude on my territory!" The loud voice demanded.

"If you would be willing to listen to reason…" Quill said. "Aamira and I were just looking for a way home and these two with us just want to glimpse the Crystal Onix."

They heard the scraping of claws against rock as the pokemon moved closer to them, though still blocked from view. "Quill, is that you? You've kept me waiting for quite some time."

Quill straightened up, trying to see over the stalagmites. "That voice… Heatran?"

Heatran came crawling over the side of the stalagmites and walked up to them. In spite of his size, he was noticeably a lot quieter than would be expected. "So it is you. I've waited hundreds of years for your return."

"But what are you doing here?" Quill asked. "I thought you were sealing yourself away on Lava Lava Island."

Heatran nodded. "It started out that way, but then a young Riolu showed up and unsealed me some time later. He seemed a bit distraught, though I wouldn't know exactly why, and he warned me that someone else was on their way to break the seal and tamper with my memory. I decided the best thing to do would be to move on to a different location and hide myself there without sealing myself away in case I was discovered again. Here I am, hundreds of years later."

"But I thought you said that sealing yourself in the Lava Stone would prevent anyone from attacking you and that only I would be able to release you." Quill said.

Heatran nodded. "As would have been the case except that this enemy we face is no common foe and that Riolu was no common Aura Reader."

"So long story short, you managed to escape?" Aamira asked.

"Oh, this is my partner, Aamira." Quill said. "She's involved with that legend too. We were trying to find a way back home, but do you think you could tell us while we're here?"

Heatran turned to Aamira and considered her for a moment. His eyes suddenly widened, apparently panic stricken. "A Cyr—" he looked at the others as if hoping they hadn't noticed his reaction and cleared his throat with a loud cough. "Your name is Aamira, yes?"

'What was that all about…?' Aamira wondered. Something about his reaction really bothered her. She assumed that it was because this huge, powerful, legendary pokemon suddenly seemed scared of her for no apparent reason. It didn't feel right though, but regardless she decided to push it from her mind for the time being.

Aamira nodded. "So do you think you could tell us about that legend?"

Heatran regarded her for a second longer then turned back to Quill. "I knew you had a partner, but I wouldn't have assumed it would be one as unusual as this."

"And what's so unusual about me?" Aamira asked.

Heatran turned back to her. "You've lost your memory, haven't you?"

"What? How did you know that?" she asked. Heatran mumbled something under his breath, but it was obvious he didn't want her to hear. "And earlier you were saying something weird. Why did you seem so nervous?"

Heatran shook his head. "No, it was wrong to react that way. I'm sorry, but it really is of no importance to you currently."

Quill thought his behavior was strange too, but it was obviously something he didn't want to discuss. "So can you tell us about the legend or not?"

Aamira thought she noticed him glance in her direction for a brief moment, but it was either too quick to see clearly or she had imagined it. "… No. I thought that you would be ready to hear it by the time you found me, but it would seem that I was mistaken. I don't think that I'm the one meant to tell the two of you the legend. I'm sorry."

"Seriously?" Quill said. "Well could you at least help us out? We were told that there might be a way back home through here, but I'm not sure how that would work."

Heatran turned back towards the island he had previously been hiding on. "There's a cave that leads to an odd place through there. Most of the flying type pokemon who live in the desert are small, but up ahead is a place where many larger varieties live. You may be able to convince one to carry you home."

"Well thanks for the help… I guess…" Aamira said awkwardly.

"Be on your way then. Don't let me catch children such as yourselves playing around here again. Aura Reader and Guardian or not, it still gets dangerous around here at times." He stepped out of the way to allow the four of them to pass. Garchomp and Hippopotas cast him nervous and suspicious glances as they walked by following Aamira and Quill.

The four of them climbed over the stalagmites surrounding the island and easily found a cave leading through another tunnel. As soon as they stepped through, the temperature decreased drastically. Aamira had completely forgotten that it was at all hot inside the last cave until entering the newer, much cooler one.

"So what was that all about?" Gabite asked. "Amnesia, a legend, Aura Reader, Aura Guardian, being acquainted with a pokemon like Heatran… Who are you two!"

"I wish I knew." Aamira said. "I can't remember anything past about a year and a half ago."

"And aside from us being partners, I have no idea how I'm supposed to fit into all of this." Quill said.

Hippopotas was once again running out in front of them, as happy and oblivious as ever. Aamira continued to walk in silence, not wanting to talk with anyone.

"Are you okay?" Quill asked after a while.

"I don't know…" She said. "It's a little unsettling. He started to say something earlier. Now I'm wondering what it was. Aside from that, he seemed pretty nervous being near me and anxious for us to leave."

"It was a little weird…" Quill admitted. "Maybe we should have pressed him for more information."

"If we did, it probably would have ended in a fight. We're already tired, lost, and dehydrated; we don't need a battle with a legendary pokemon right now."

"So just to clarify," Gabite cut in, "this tunnel is the 'tongue' and the island back there was the mouth. And Heatran was the one of stone and fire? So if we follow this path will we really find out why the river changed direction?"

"Seems that way." Quill said. "I mean, Bibarel's been right this far, hasn't she? But I wonder what she meant by azure and crimson and how the Crystal Onix fits into all of this."

They entered another large cavern some time later. The entire back wall was dominated by a large crystal sculpture of an Onix with ruby eyes. The Onix was curled so that its head was at the top and its tail curled into the center of a large circle formed by its coiled body. A tablet embedded underneath the carving was covered in strange letters.

"I smell it! I smell it!" Hippopotas started running around the room, sniffing for a trail that lead to the Onix in both the air and on the ground.

"What do you think that tablet over there says?" Gabite asked Aamira and Quill.

Aamira walked a little closer to it, sure that it must be the language she knew. "'Awaken the guardian of the desert by making it once again whole. The guardian's tail will point the way to the Mirage Oasis."

"So cool! So cool! The Mirage Oasis really does exist after all!" Hippopotas said happily. "Even if we don't find the real Onix, this is a huge discovery!"

"But what does it mean by making the guardian whole?" Quill asked.

Aamira noticed that the tip of the Onix's tail was rounded. It had been a few days back, but she remembered that during Hunter's battle with the Onix in the final battle of the exhibition match, that Onix had had a pointed stone on the end of its tail. As she thought about this, something came to mind; a diamond that she had seen only the previous night that matched the shape perfectly.

"Gabite, your crystal." Aamira said. "Put it on the end of the Onix's tail."

"What?" Gabite dug in his bag until he found the crystal. He held it up as if matching the shape to the sculpture. "I don't believe it… It looks like it would fit perfectly."

"Well of course it will." The four of them turned to see Cacturne walking in from the tunnel behind them. "Who would have thought that after all of this time, you finally found it? We had been waiting for years for you to find it, but you and Hippopotas never got any closer."

"Hey, Cacturne!" Hippopotas said in his usual cheerful way. "Did you get worried about us and come to help? No need for that. We're doing fine as you can see!"

"Shut it, wimp!" Cacturne suddenly snapped at him. Hippopotas stared up at him in surprise. "Honestly, after all of this time in Team Sirocco, you haven't figured it out?"

"Figured what out?" Gabite shouted back.

"My goodness, I never would have believed that you two would be so gullible. That I'm a no good, rotten-to-the-core bandit who would like nothing more than to hunt down that Crystal Onix and sell it to some greedy bounty hunters across the sea!"

"What?" Quill and Aamira both shouted at the same time.

"Oh, but not only that!" Cacturne seemed to be getting more excited by the second. "Do you know what's hidden in Mirage Oasis? There's said to be a treasure to rival any other found in the desert. This treasure is said to allow the holder to alter the flow of water. Imagine what I could do with something like that!"

"In a desert, something like that in the wrong hands would be devastating…" Aamira said. "You could dry up all of the rivers, leaving all of the pokemon with no water to survive." 

"And you would probably force them all into paying you for water since you'll be the only one who can supply it…" Quill concluded.

"Exactly!"

"But why would you…?" Hippopotas asked. "You're a dear friend and member of Team Sirocco…"

"It's hard to explain, but I suppose I might as well." He said. "You see, it actually has to do with Gabite here."

Gabite jumped at the mention of his name. "What do you mean…?"

"Oh you were adorable as a child." Cacturne said. "Just wanted to leave your hidden village just for one day! You couldn't have known that you were wandering through Kabutops's territory. Fortunately for you, the 'Great Investigator' Cacturne just happened to be passing through. You were amazed of course, when you saw the size of my 'team' and immediately you became obsessed with the idea of joining and Investigation Team yourself.

"You returned to our hideout every day, listening to all of those phony stories about the adventures we had all been on. It just so happened that one day the Great Cacturne had gotten terribly ill and the only thing that could cure him was a Gabite Scale. Of course, it wasn't just the one scale that I wanted. I had spun an amazing tale; one that could convince the wisest of kings to hand over all of the treasure that they had ever owned. But your were only a gullible child and I was a hero who wanted to use Gabite scales to cure the hundreds of people who suffered from horrible diseases. Of course, your scales wouldn't have been enough to accomplish such a task."

"No…" Gabite took a nervous step back.

"Ah, but of course! It being for such a good cause, one that could save so many lives, of course you wouldn't think twice about leading me to that village of yours! All of those Gabite scales… If it hadn't been for that infernal desert guardian coming to your rescue, they all would have been mine! On top of that, not only were my underlings wiped out in the battle, but somehow my fragment of the Crystal Onix had vanished and you along with it!

"I searched but could find you nowhere. It was then, several months later, I would get myself in a perilous situation while searching for clues to the Crystal Onix's whereabouts. Luckily for me, a Wingull sent a distress message and the noble Team Sirocco came to my rescue. You can be sure I was amazed when I realized you didn't recognize me, but on top of that, you had my crystal with you!

"I was weak at the time and decided to wait to get my revenge and steal the crystal back. Of course, before then I came up with a brilliant idea. Why search for the Crystal Onix myself when I could let you do the searching for me? After that I could knock you and the Onix out, get a generous reward from some greedy bounty hunters after selling your scales, then claim the treasure that the Onix guards for myself! And who would stand in my way? Certainly not you. That Hippopotas? Doubtful. But the sudden arrival of Team Sleuth! Not what I expected, but though it may be more of a challenge, I'm sure to get an even bigger reward for you two! You'll get home to your own region, alright, but on my terms!"

"You can't be serious…" Aamira said in a faint voice. "This can't be what Bibarel was leading us towards…

"Even if you do manage to defeat me, my whole band is waiting outside for you. There's no getting out of here unless you decide to come with us. I would suggest peacefully, since it would be a lot more comfortable for you."

"We're surrounded?" Quill said. "We'll still have to try either way though, won't we!"

Cacturne laughed. "You seem to be the only one who thinks so."

He was right. Behind Quill, Gabite was staring at Cacturne with a mixture of fear and hatred, Hippopotas had lost his usual bravado, and Aamira didn't seem to have the heart to try to fight. Even though she hated bounty hunters, after the last time she was apparently still shaken up.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you either. I might not have much of an advantage against you, but there are many rock and ground types in the desert and many in my band. Famous investigator or not, you won't last long once you step a single paw out of here."

Quill was about to say something out of defiance, but it didn't seem like there was anything he could say. He really had his entire band of thieves waiting outside? Why would he lie? As soon as they were led outside, they could easily escape if they saw that he was bluffing. It looked like they really were trapped and there wasn't anything they could do about it.

"Boss! Boss!" Cacturne turned towards the tunnel he had entered from. Running towards him was a frantic Quagsire covered in injuries. "Boss, it was an ambush! It was—"

He was cut off mid sentence by a burst of fire from behind him that knocked him out cold. Before the flames even had time to dissipate, the attacker jumped out of the flames and attacked Cacturne with Blaze Kick.

"Sorry I'm late." Infernape said while readjusting the Pecha Scarf she wore around her neck. "Would have been here sooner, but there was a pretty good party going on outside; I just couldn't resist stopping by for a little fun."

"Wait, you don't mean…" Aamira started.

Infernape smirked. "Yea, I've cleared a path. You guys can leave whenever you want."

"Amazing!" Hippopotas said. "You beat up all of the bad guys!"

"Well, almost all of them." Infernape glanced in Cacturne's direction. Her attack had done a lot of damage, but he was still up and about. "Captain Tyranitar and the rest of the police force are out there cleaning up the after party. They'll be here within a few minutes."

Cacturne stared at her in shock and turned away from them, obviously trying to cope with the thought of his entire band being captured so easily. He started to laugh hysterically. "The rest of them, perhaps, but do you honestly think you can capture the Great Cacturne so easily?"

Cacturne dug around in his back and pulled out an orb. He looked over his shoulder and waved to them. Infernape rushed towards him using Fire Punch. Cacturne held up the orb, which started to glow, and Infernape's fist came in contact with nothing but air.

"He escaped!" Aamira shouted.

Infernape growled under her breath. "I was so close too… I guess the Great Cacturne will remain a wanted outlaw for a while longer."

"Are you okay, Gabite?" Hippopotas asked.

Gabite was still staring off into space. Apparently everything that Cacturne had said had really gotten to him. After a while he started to continually mutter, "It can't be true…"

"So what do we do now?" Quill asked.

"We could continue, if you want." Hippopotas said to Gabite. "Hey, maybe everything Cacturne said was a complete lie; you never know with bandits."

Gabite nodded weakly. Of course they had to continue. If what Cacturne had said was true the Crystal Onix had protected him. Whether it was true or not, it was his one lead to what really happened that day back in his village. But did he really want to know the truth now? He didn't know for sure.

"What about you?" Aamira asked Infernape.

"My mission's over." She said. "Truth be told, the reason I stayed behind in Silex while the rest of Team Blazer returned to Ignis was because of Cacturne. A lot had happened in the short time we stayed here. We were called here on a mission to catch Cacturne, but failed miserably. Charmeleon, Typhlosion, and I got in the worst fight we had been in up until that point. I could tell that I was just hanging in the team by a thread as it was and when I found out that Cacturne had joined an Investigation Team undercover, I figured I might do the same. I decided that in that case, continuing in Team Blazer really would be a fruitless effort. We went our separate ways and I stayed here as a member of Team Sirocco. Hippopotas, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about any of this until just now. I didn't want to blow my cover before I could track down the rest of Cacturne's band."

"I understand." Hippopotas said. "So are you going to continue trying to track down Cacturne? You can always stay as a member of Team Sirocco, you know. Cacturne hurt Gabite, and I'm not about to allow him to get away with that either."

Infernape considered it for a moment before she shook her head and turned towards the tunnel. "No, I think I'll go alone this time. Your main objective is to find the Crystal Onix. There was a time when the thought of a cave filled with diamonds and an underground utopia might have interested me. Not anymore though. We can work together, of course, but I don't think I would really fit in on Team Sirocco."

Hippopotas nodded. "I understand. Let's work together in the future then!"

Infernape nodded and started to walk back down the tunnel and out of sight, being sure to bring the unconscious Quagsire with her.

Hippopotas suggested that they stopped for a break before continuing, which Aamira and Quill both agreed would be for the best. Gabite sat against the wall with his hands on his head.

"It'll be alright." Hippopotas said. "The only thing we can really do right now is keep going, right? Whether you led them to your village or not, what's done is done and you'll always be cursed to wonder about it if you don't do anything to find out for sure."

Gabite nodded. "But my father… and everyone else…"

"You didn't do anything wrong." Hippopotas said. "Even if you did lead those thieves to your village, it was only because they tricked you. You really thought that you were doing something good. Unlike Cacturne, you did it to help people, not to greedily sell the scales of the other Gabite just to make a quick profit."

Gabite didn't respond. Hippopotas sat with him in silence, leaving him to his thoughts for a while. After a few minutes Gabite stood up. "Alright. If you two are ready, let's keep going. I just have one more reason to find the Onix now, so I'm not giving up if you're all willing to go on."

The two of them smiled and nodded, relieved that Gabite was back to being his old self. Gabite walked up to the Onix carving and placed his crystal on the Onix's tail. The curled tail swung forward until the tip reached the ground, leading up to a door that had, up until then, been concealed with a mirage.

The four of them walked up the Onix's tail and through the door. There was an obvious change of pressure when they entered the next tunnel. The tunnel wasn't much of a tunnel, but a hallway that had obviously been carved out by hand. The door swung shut behind them and the four of them continued walking.

Aamira took the time to remind them all of what Bibarel had told them before they left. "In the Marble Valley where the sun touches the earth, follow the serpent's trail. When the desert is surpassed by an unlikely place, search for one of stone and fire. Follow the tongue into the jaws of the earth and find the secret of the reversed river. There, Azure and Crimson shall show the way to a manifestation of pure spirit."

"So we've done a good deal of it already." Quill said. "We found the dungeon in Marble Valley when the sunlight touched the mirage at sunrise, followed Onix's scent trail further into the dungeon which was even hotter than in the desert in spite of it being filled with water, and we found Heatran, who was the one of stone and fire. We followed the tunnel through the cave that resembled the mouth, so next we should be able to find the secret of the reversed river."

"After that comes Azure and Crimson." Gabite said.

"Who should show us the way to a manifestation of a pure spirit." Hippopotas finished. "I'm sure that's it. The pure spirit must be the Crystal Onix."

"After all of this time…" Gabite said under his breath. "We're finally going to do it…"

Up ahead they saw a light. They had no idea how much time they had spent going through all of the dungeons or even just the last tunnel. The last tunnel hadn't seemed to take too long, though maybe that was just the excitement beginning to build up.

The tunnel started to slope upwards and they emerged from beneath the roots of a tree. The weather was cool and pleasant, there were plants growing everywhere, and there was a large variety of pokemon who didn't seem to be very violent. Flocks of bird pokemon flew through the trees and grass types snoozed in the shade of trees by the river. In the distance a couple of Raticate kept watch on the four newcomers as their three young Rattata wrestled and played outside the den. The entire area was lit by a calming blue light.

"Is this the Mirage Oasis?" Aamira asked in a soft voice, not wanting to interrupt the peace of the area.

"Looks like it." Hippopotas looked towards the west. The sun was just starting to set. "It's starting to get late. We should set up camp and continue forward in the morning." The other three nodded in agreement and they each went their separate ways to collect some items. Quill found some fallen branches to make a fire and some stones to line it so none of the other plants would catch fire, Gabite had gone off to find some berries to replace the ones they had used in the dungeon, Hippopotas went to forage for any food he could find for their dinner, and Aamira had taken their canteens to refill them in the river just in case they ended up back in the desert.

The four of them had gone to sleep quickly after eating dinner without saying much to each other. Aamira wasn't sure how long she had slept, but it seemed like only a short time later they were being awakened by someone.

"A bit of a strange place to fall asleep in, even for you two."

Aamira rubbed her eyes and looked up at the pokemon who was talking to them. For a moment, she thought she was still dreaming. "Latias and Latios!"

"Thank goodness we finally found you!" Latias said with a smile.

In spite of his sister's obvious joy, Latios remained serious. "Things have gotten worse in Ignis. When Charmeleon got in contact with someone from Aequor, they had said you were on a mission to investigate the whirlpools. Some time later, Vaporeon showed up unconscious on a beach on one of Ignis's smaller island cities. She told them what was really going on and how she had managed to escape from Slowking by the furs of her tail and had just barely made it there."

"So did she say what's causing the earthquakes and whirlpools?" Quill asked.

"Unfortunately no." Latias said. "She was pretty badly hurt when they found her and had only enough time to mention how Slowking had sent you on a mission to get you out of the way and how she had managed to escape. She lost consciousness again just as she was about to explain further. She should be okay by now, but we left before we could get any of the major details."

"Grovyle and Autumn had been keeping an eye on the currents for a while and told them that a lot of the strongest ones had started to flow towards the west towards Silex, so we went to the desert looking for the two of you." Latios said. "We searched the shore for a while with no luck and decided to come back to our island to rest and devise another strategy."

"So this is your island!" Aamira said. "So the treasure that the Crystal Onix is supposed to protect is the one you guard."

Latias nodded. "In fact, you set up your camp not far from it."

The four of them followed Latias and Latios further into the forest where they came across something that resembled an overflowing birdbath in the center of a shallow pond. The water from the pond poured out and ran into the river that they had camped by.

"This is the Soul Dew." Latios said. "It's what provided the reversed river with its water in the past. A long time ago when it was in danger of being stolen, this whole oasis was moved out to an island in the center of the sea and protected by a mirage that can only be broken from the inside. It was created from the combined souls of our Latias and Latios ancestors. If anything ever happened to it, all of the water on this island would dry up, as well as the water in the desert."

"So it was really something worth protecting, huh?" Gabite said. "So what does the Crystal Onix have to do with it?"

"Our ancestors heard the legend about the Crystal Onix guarding and underground oasis, so they thought it would be a good figure to guard the Mirage Oasis." Latias said. "It's a nice touch, isn't it, sealing the door with an Onix statue made of pure diamond?"

"So you're saying the Crystal Onix never actually guarded this place?" Hippopotas asked, disheartened.

"Well of course not." Latios said. "It's just an old fairy tale; there's no such thing as an Onix made of diamond."

"No such thing?" Hippopotas snapped at him.

Gabite motioned for Quill and Aamira to back away.

"He always gets like this." Gabite said. "He sees the suggestion that the Crystal Onix doesn't exist as a suggestion that his grandpa was either a liar or that he was insane. It's a terrible insult to him to suggest such a thing. He really loved his grandpa. He's probably going to start by going on about how long we've been searching for it."

"You would really say that the Crystal Onix doesn't exist!" Hippopotas continued. "I've spent years searching for it with Gabite. We've found clues and legends leading to it and we've both seen it with our own two eyes!"

Gabite nodded and continued to speak in a low tone that only Quill and Aamira could hear. "Now he'll probably say something to belittle Latios."

"Do you really think you have so much authority just because you're a legendary pokemon? I've seen legendaries before and I can tell that you're a lot younger than anyone else here and if you think that being a legendary automatically makes you right, then you're wrong! I know it exists and nothing you say is going to change my mind!"

Gabite nodded again. "And now he's going to go into the story about his Grandpa." 

"And what about everything that Gabite's been though!" Hippopotas shouted at Latios, much to Gabite's surprise. "He's been through enough, hasn't he? If it wasn't for the Crystal Onix, I'd be really worried about him. All he would have left is a wish for revenge towards Cacturne and I don't want him to go through that… I know that he might have really led the bandits to his village, but even Cacturne doesn't know what happened to the villagers. It could be… that the Crystal Onix is his only chance of finding out where his family is…"

Gabite's eyes widened as he continued to listen to Hippopotas's ranting. He hadn't even considered that. After all of these years, he had begun to believe with absolute certainty that his family was gone for good, but what Hippopotas said made sense. If the Crystal Onix really had protected him, maybe the rest of his family was safe after all.

"That's why…" Hippopotas continued. "That's why I lied about seeing the Crystal Onix…" Gabite gasped. He never would have guessed the way Hippopotas always went on about it. Hippopotas turned to him. "I'm sorry I never told you, but I made that story up on the spot when we first met. Truthfully, I never knew any of my grandparents, let alone one who was a fanatic about the Crystal Onix. I always thought it was a fairy tale too until you told me about what had happened. I wanted to help you, so I told you I was the leader of a one-member Investigation Team called Team Sirocco with the goal of finding the Crystal Onix."

"But… why would you do something like that?" Gabite asked.

"Because you looked so sad." Hippopotas said. "And after a while, you had become my best friend. I started to realize the clues led to the evidence that the Crystal Onix really did exist, so of course I didn't want to tell you before that I really hadn't seen it. I wanted you to keep believing in it, even if I didn't believe it at all at first."

"I see…" Gabite said. "But all of the leads we've found… they really do point to it don't they? So there's still a chance that it really does exist… And if it does exist, I could maybe find my family."

"Yea, you can't give up on that just yet." Aamira said. "Though that being said, it looks like Bibarel was leading you on another wild serpent chase, doesn't it? Looks like she was just talking about this place that was modeled after the Crystal Onix legend."

"Yea, looks like it…" Hippopotas said with a bitter laugh. "We used up all of our money on our first fortune too… Looks like she really is a con artist after all, no matter how accurate her predictions are."

"It was worth a shot though." Gabite said. "We should investigate the old diamond mines that were discovered recently to the north next, don't you think?"

Hippopotas nodded. "Yea, let's do that. First thing after we get back to town."

Quill and Aamira talked with Latias and Latios a while longer before going back. They had mentioned that the reason they hadn't found Aamira and Quill was because they had been swept up in the river and carried further inland. If they hadn't found the Mirage Oasis when they did, Latias and Latios never would have found them. They convinced Latias and Latios to give the members of Team Sirocco a ride back to town before heading back to Ignis.

They flew back, Aamira on Latios's back and Quill on Latias's and Hippopotas being carried in Latias's arms and Gabite in Latios's. It was around noon when they finally spotted land in the distance. It had been obvious by that point that Azure and Crimson that Bibarel had mentioned were Latias and Latios and that the manifestation of pure spirit was Hippopotas's confession of never having seen the Crystal Onix.

Still, it didn't seem right to Aamira that they hadn't really found it. Maybe it was just because when they set out to find some really rare pokemon, they usually succeeded, though it was nothing new for Team Sirocco who had been searching for the Crystal Onix for years. So why did something keep nagging at her at the back of her mind that she had missed something?

"Hey, Hippopotas." she shouted to him over the wind. "How accurate are Bibarel's predictions?"

"Completely accurate, though she rarely tells anyone about what they want to hear, even if her riddles make it seem that way." He shouted back.

"So I was wondering, do you really know the Crystal Onix's scent?"

"Of course!" Hippopotas sounded mildly offended. "I picked it up where it had apparently just appeared in a town before we arrived there. The scent was still lingering and hadn't smelled anything like any other pokemon. I couldn't forget that scent."

"Oh, I see what you mean!" Quill shouted to Aamira. "The serpent's trail! Hippopotas really smelled it, so that means that the Crystal Onix really must have passed through there before us, right?"

"Hey, you're right!" Gabite said. "And right after he found the scent, Drapion the dungeon boss appeared. That means that there must be some more clues hidden in that dungeon somewhere!"

"So we go back!" Hippopotas said. "As soon as we head back to town, we restock on supplies and head back to Marble Valley!"

This seemed to improve Gabite's mood a good deal, which he really needed after all he had been through in the last day. What was even more heartening to both member of Team Sirocco was the warm welcome they got when they returned to town. Apparently Infernape had credited the team for the capture of the bandits instead of taking all of the credit for themselves, so everyone was hailing them as heroes.

Everyone was giving Hippopotas and Gabite a warm welcome upon their return and their team was awarded with the Gold Rank. The two of them slipped away at the last minute to say a final farewell before Aamira and Quill departed.

"Oh, before we go," Latios said. "truth be told, we're supposed to tell everyone who asks about the Crystal Onix that it doesn't exist."

"Not that it really does." Latios immediately caught herself when Hippopotas glared at her. "No, that's not what I meant to say! We're supposed to deter greedy thieves from looking for it, but we can see your reason for searching for it is a just one, so we might as well tell you the truth about it."

"You see, the truth is, there's no such thing as a Crystal Onix." Latios said. "What you're looking for is actually an Onix made entirely of glass."

"Glass!" Aamira said. "Now that makes a lot more sense!"

"With all of the sand around here, in hotter temperatures like the second dungeon in Marble Valley a Glass Onix would be entirely possible…" Hippopotas said.

"Now that I think about it, the one from my memory did seem a little too transparent for diamond…" Gabite admitted. "So this whole time we've been searching for an Onix made of glass. We've been looking in all the wrong places…"

"Thank you for telling us." Hippopotas said. "Aamira, Quill, it was nice meeting you two. I hope we can work together on another mission someday."

"Likewise." Aamira said.

The two of them climbed back onto Latias and Latios's backs and flew off before they could attract too much attention from the crowd. Later that day, they finally glimpsed Ignis in the distance. Something didn't seem right though. Fighting in the ocean near Ignis's shore were two huge pokemon.

"Of course…" Aamira said when they got close enough to see what the pokemon were. "Why didn't we see it before…?"

"I can't believe it…" Quill said in disbelief. "The cause of the earthquakes and the whirlpools… it was Kyogre and Groudon!"


	43. Chapter 43 Fighting the Storm and Rapids

They found Charmeleon at the temple-like building where Charizard was still moping and pretending to sleep. With him was a less than welcome sight: Milotic. 

"Please, you have to get up…" Chameleon said to his dad, paying no attention to Latias, Latios, or their passengers as they landed. "I don't know anyone else who's strong enough to stop this…"

Charizard huffed and smoke billowed from his nostrils and he turned away and curled up so no one could see his face. "I'd suggest you start evacuating then, because I'm not strong enough to do much of anything to be of help.

"Please…" Charmeleon said, stepping closer to his father. "You have to try at least. I had always believed that you were the strongest pokemon. If you can't stop Kyogre and Groudon, then…"

"I'd hate to admit it…" Latios cut in, "but he's right. No normal pokemon is strong enough to stop those two from fighting."

"So what do we do?" Charmeleon asked, turning back to face them.

"Why not start by telling us how this happened?" Aamira said. "Doesn't someone have to physically awaken Groudon and Kyogre? This isn't something that happens on its own."

Charmeleon nodded. "Aequor and Ignis have fought for as long as anyone could remember. We wanted a way to take over so that we would have free reign of the seas, so we tried to wake up Groudon. Under my father's orders, I traveled to Sylva about a year and a half ago in an attempt to steal the treasure hidden there. Once we got it, we would use the treasure to wake up Groudon and control it."

"So that's why you took the Grace-Seed!" Quill said.

Charmeleon nodded. "What we didn't know at the time was that legendaries could only be controlled by specific treasures. After realizing that the Grace Seed wouldn't work, I returned it to Sylva. By then we had discovered the Red Orb. Based on the discoveries we made based on the tests when trying to control Aamira's thoughts through similar means, I was convinced that controlling Groudon would be impossible so I convinced my dad to give up on waking up Groudon."

"Would have been nice to know about that before hand." Milotic said while tossing her long fins. "We were told to steal the Grace-Seed to find out what Ignis was doing with it and through a long process discovered their attempts to reawaken Groudon. Fortunately for us, Slowking knew better than any of the Ignians did. Most would assume that the Red Orb controlled Groudon because it matches the color of his armor, but it's actually the Blue Orb that controls Groudon and the Red Orb that controls Kyogre. So we offered a swap in order to strengthen our ties between the two countries. Naturally, this was a rouse to get the Red Orb to awaken Kyogre. Since they had given up on awakening Groudon, we didn't think giving them the Blue Orb would be a big deal."

"Okay so that explains why Kyogre is out there…" Quill said. "Now what about Groudon? How did it wake up if you gave up?"

"Infernape." Charmeleon said. "We found out during a trip to Silex to hunt down an outlaw that she had stolen the Blue Gem in order to try to wake up Groudon after finding out about the treasures being switched. Some time after that she left the team and stayed behind in Silex. We thought we had stopped her before any permanent damage was caused, but apparently Groudon continued to wake up on it's own after she had started it."

"This all make sense now." Aamira said. "Why you stole the Grace Seed and tried that mind control trick a while back and why Infernape seemed so on edge back then… It all makes sense."

"That's all well and good, but in case you hadn't noticed, there are two giant legendary pokemon going on a rampage outside." Milotic said. "Unless you have a plan to stop this, we're just wasting time right now!"

Latias and Latios looked towards each other and nodded. Latias was the first to step forward. "You could always go ask Rayquaza."

"Rayquaza?" Charmeleon said. "What's that?"

"It's a legendary pokemon like Groudon and Kyogre." Aamira said. "It was said to stop the two of them in their battle thousands of years ago."

"So finding Rayquaza might do it, but where do we look for it?" Milotic asked.

"On the Sky Planes." Latios said. "We're not supposed to mention it unless there's a dire emergency. Only flying types and legendaries are supposed to know about it."

"So you could take us there?" Charmeleon said.

"We would take Aamira and Quill there…" Latias said. "After hearing the part you and Milotic played in this though…"

Charmeleon nodded. "Right, I get it."

Charizard laughed bitterly from the back of the room. "Take the two of them there if you must, but they won't be able to set foot on the Sky Planes. You're wasting your time."

Charmeleon glared at his father, not knowing what to say. Aamira and Quill climbed back onto Latias and Latios's backs.

"Oh before we go," Aamira said to Milotic, "I'm not about to forget about how you tried to drown us earlier."

"I was only following orders." She said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Latias and Latios took off again with Quill and Aamira on their backs. Just as they left, they saw Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos all fly from the Volcano's crater. Moltres shrieked as if in pain as the volcano erupted for the second time in the past week. They saw Charmeleon and Milotic running from the shelter of old building, but Charizard seemed adamant in staying put.

Below them Kyogre and Groudon continued to fight as ferociously as ever; their fangs and claws, as long and sharp as they were, barely scratching the other's armor, though their exposed flesh on their stomach was covered in wounds at this point. All around them were strange spots of torrential storm clouds and large gaps in the clouds with the harsh sunlight seeping through. It had a strange and wild beauty to it that seemed to accompany the prospect of war perfectly.

"Aren't you tired?" Aamira asked Latias a while after they lost sight of Ignis.

Latias's wings drooped slightly almost as soon as she asked. "A little. If I was bigger, I'd be able to fly for days and nights without a break. Latios is tired too, though he probably wouldn't admit it. He's just barely older than I am. When he came to Sylva to find me, he was about as old as I was when we were reunited at Divum."

"So have you ever been to the Sky Plane?" Aamira asked.

Latias shook her head. "No, but Latios and I are drawn to it like Manaphy is to the Sea Temple. We know where it is instinctively from birth and we know instinctively from birth that it could be dangerous to allow anyone to know the location of it. Mainly because there's a secret entrance to Desolo near it."

"So where is it exactly?" Aamira asked.

"You can see it now."

In the distance she saw the large storm clouds of Tempestas looming over them. Because of the spots of thunderstorms they had seen, she hadn't paid much attention before then.

"I know you don't like lightning, but please bear with us." Latios folded her wings back and immediately her speed increased. To her left, Latios had done the same.

"Hold on!" Aamira shouted. "The Sky Planes are in there?"

"Where else would it be hidden in the sky where other pokemon wouldn't look for it? Haven't you ever wondered why the storm clouds here stay stationary?" Latias asked. "Don't worry; our ancestors have done this thousands of times."

"But you never have!" Aamira reminded her.

Latias and Latios dove into the storm clouds. It was chaos from the moment they entered. It was probably paranoia, but Aamira thought for sure the lightning was aiming at them.

Latias and Latios seemed like experts at dodging lightning and finding the safest air currents. Even for their age and size compared to their ancestors, they seemed like professionals. It stayed that way until they were further inside the storm. They were buffeted by strong winds that were apparently stronger than any Latias and Latios had ever felt.

Latias, being much smaller and lighter, was blown away from the center of the storm. Latios turned back towards her and rammed her and Aamira out of the way just as a bolt of lightning nearly hit them.

"Run!" Latios shouted over the storm. Latias and Latios both dove towards the bottom of the storm cloud, evading lightning where necessary. Unfortunately, this deep into the storm, they were at the wind's mercy.

Out of the corner of her eye, Aamira thought she saw something white dart across the black storm clouds surrounding them. Aamira and Latias were rammed from behind and pushed out of the clouds just as a strong wind had picked up, which would have blown them straight into a bolt of lightning that struck immediately after. Latias fell towards the peak where Tempestas was located and had almost hit the ground when Latios dove down and pulled her up by the wing just second before the inevitable crash.

Latias was shaking terribly and it took her a few minutes before she was calm enough to fly on her own again.

"Are you alright?" Latios asked.

"I think so…" She finally managed to say. "Aamira, could you loosen your grip a little?"

Aamira hadn't even realized it until then, but she had had her arms wrapped around Latias's neck to tightly that it was a miracle that she could even breathe. "Sorry… I guess I got a little shaken up myself…"

"You're not the only one…" Quill said in a voice that was barely a whisper.

"That was a foolish thing to do, hatchlings!" Aamira looked up and saw Togekiss flying high above them, just below the storm clouds. "Planning to brave the cloud barrier on your first attempt? Impossible, I should say."

With the slightest motion, Togekiss swerved and dropped until she was level with them. "You're lucky the lightning didn't fry you. If I hadn't pushed you out of the way, I'd hate to think what would have happened."

"What are you doing here?" Aamira snapped at her.

"I'll explain on the way to the Sky Planes. For now climb onto my back and I'll do all of the flying." She said.

"You expect us to trust a Bounty Hunter?" Quill asked. "How did you escape anyway? I thought you were arrested by Rhyperior."

"Hang on…" Aamira tilted her head slightly as if trying to see Togekiss from a different angle. "I knew your flying seemed weird, but then I've never met any other Togekiss before. Still, it's unusually skilled and graceful for most flying types. Who are you really?"

Togekiss gave Aamira a slight smile. "I'm sorry for deceiving you. Twice. We don't have the time though. Hop on my back and I'll explain on the way to the Sky Planes."

Aamira nodded and jumped onto her back. "Are you sure you'll be okay, Latias?"

Latias gave a quick nod. "Yea, I'll be fine. I was expecting the lightning; the wind's what got to me. I just need to rest a while on the ground."

"Well? Come on." Togekiss said to Quill. Quill still seemed a little uncertain, but there must be more to her if Aamira was willing to trust someone they knew to be a Bounty Hunter. He jumped from Latios's back to Togekiss's, surprised that she didn't even fall slightly from the added weight.

Almost as soon as Quill had gotten a grip on the strap of the bag that Togekiss was wearing around her neck, Togekiss took off back towards the thunder storm.

"Look inside the bag." She said to the two of them. "Put what you find inside around your necks. Since you're not a species native to the sky, the cloud barrier is trying to keep you out."

Aamira and Quill opened the bag. Inside they found a couple of pendants, each with three white feathers attached by a golden chain. The two of them put the chains around their necks just as Togekiss entered the storm clouds again. Though lightning still struck randomly, it no longer seemed to be aiming towards them as it had been.

"I wish I had my goggles, truthfully." She shouted back at them. "It would be a lot easier to see with them. I don't really need them anymore, but they do add that bit of security, you know?"

"So will you tell us who you are?" Aamira asked. "And where our friends are?"

"Your friends are safe." She said. "They're waiting for you on the Sky Plane. We have Investigation Teams too, so they've been kept busy at least. Hang on, this part's tricky. You may want to duck."

Aamira and Quill flattened themselves against Togekiss's back as she tucked her wings in and flew into an especially strong air current. They rose into the air quite a bit, but not as much as they would have been, had her wings been outstretched.

"Truth is there is no Bounty Hunter named Togekiss." She continued. "Rhyperior and your friends agreed to help with the rouse once I explained the situation. My real identity, for sure this time, is Togekiss, the guardian of the sky. I'm an ambassador of the Sky Plane and the only one allowed to enter the shrine dedicated to Rayquaza."

"Well that explains how you fly so well." Quill said. "So why all the secrecy?"

"A long time ago, Verity of the famous Team Unity came to the Sky Planes with a desperate plea. Kyogre and Groudon had been outfitted with armor that increased their strength. However, unknown to the two pokemon at the time, the leaders of Ignis and Aequor at the time created the armor along with two orbs that would control Groudon and Kyogre. Enraged by the attempt to control them, the two pokemon went on a rampage and a vast majority of Ignis, which was once connected to the mainland, was destroyed by Groudon's earthquakes and sunken under the sea by Kyogre's tidal waves.

"To stop them, Verity suggested outfitting Rayquaza with a similar armor. She used the Green Orb created simultaneously to strengthen Rayquaza and control him more fully than anyone could control Groudon or Kyogre. She led Rayquaza to battle the two of them and, exhausted from their injuries, the two pokemon slipped into an eternal slumber. Rayquaza also sustained some injuries, however, and was outraged by Verity's attempt to control him. At the last second, he managed to escape the control of the Green Orb and dealt a serious injury to Verity before flying off in disgust after vowing never to return to the land again.

"Now that Kyogre and Groudon have once again been awakened, however, we need Rayquaza's power to stop them. The only way to convince him unfortunately would be to control him with the Green Orb, since he had vowed to never descend from the sky again under his own volition. A legend was passed down in my family that the need to control Rayquaza would arise when the Green Orb in his shrine started to glow. When that happened, we were to descend to the ground to find a pokemon capable of controlling Rayquaza. That's where you two come in."

"How do we fit into this?" Aamira asked.

"To lay our eggs, my species must descend to the ground due to our youngest lacking the wings needed to survive in the sky. The Green Gem had started to glow faintly and I had gone on a search for someone who might be able to control Rayquaza. I left my daughter Togetic in charge of babysitting my youngest daughter, Togepi. Apparently Togepi had wandered off when she wasn't watching and had been captured by Team Night. It was at that time that they met you when you came to the rescue. Team Night had sent Togetic to find the two of you in Vine City where she saw you practicing. She was impressed even then, but when she found out later that you had not only escaped form Team Night, but that you got back your Aura Glasses, your friend's Aura Glasses, and rescued a different Investigation Team member, she became convinced that you two showed promise."

"Hey, that all happened right after Charmeleon tried to return the Grace-Seed, right?" Quill said to Aamira. "So it matches up with when they would have tried to wake up Groudon.

Aamira nodded. "Come to think of it, Togetic did say their mother had a lot to worry about. So this is what she meant."

"I should clarify one more thing." Togekiss said. "My kind are naturally kind hearted, so it goes against our nature to do what the Bounty Hunters do. When in doubt about what to do, if there's a Togekiss nearby, you can surely trust them for guidance." The feathers on Togekiss's head twitched and she swerved to avoid some lightning. "The second barrier is coming up. Hold on tight."

There was suddenly lightning all around them, though it didn't seem like a problem for Togekiss. She maneuvered through it as if she had done it a million times before. Finally the clouds became somewhat clearer than before and she returned to gliding at a steady pace.

"Only one barrier left. You should be fine as long as you keep those Sky Marks on." She said to them.

"I still don't understand why you kept so much a secret from us." Quill said. "Why not just tell us what was happening from the start?"

"To test you." Togekiss replied. "Verity was a great and strong pokemon and yet she couldn't control Rayquaza fully. Between the two of you, a team of an Aura Reader and Aura Guardian, it should be easier. And yet, I still had to make sure. Your strength is one thing, but I also wanted to test your hearts. If your hearts were not true, then Rayquaza's will would never submit to yours. No matter how powerful the Green Orb and the ones who hold it, a legendary pokemon would never submit to someone with evil intentions."

"Still, this doesn't seem right, does it?" Aamira said. "You said the only option left was to control Rayquaza, and yet wasn't the attempt to control the legendary pokemon what caused all of this in the first place?"

Togekiss chuckled. "You may be right. It's more ironic than anything, I suppose. I'm sure it will turn out okay as long as Rayquaza can stop those two from fighting and you can offer a sincere apology and explanation afterwards. Rayquaza would never return if we just simply asked him. The last barrier is coming up. This one's the most difficult for me since I can't dodge, but you two shouldn't be harmed by it."

Up ahead of them was a white wall of mist. They were immediately struck by the ice cold water vapor as soon as Togekiss flew into it. She didn't even cringe as the small ice particles struck her and ice started to form on her wings. Now they could see how she had defeated Mamoswine so easily even at a type advantage. After a while, she started flapping noticeably more frequently than before. While the ice itself didn't seem to bother her, the ice on her wings had really started to weigh her down.

She beat her wings quickly, though still with complete control, as the clouds up ahead became lighter. She gave one last powerful beat of her wings as she flew through the last of the cloud barrier, shivering from the cold of the ice on her wings.

They couldn't believe what they saw. Down below them was a large plane that stretched out for miles all floating on top of the clouds. There were rivers running through the stones that formed low hills and small houses made of either stone or wood or some combination of the two. Each of the houses looked like a child's playhouse. While the entire area had been covered in dense clouds, above the planes it was clear and sunny.

Connecting to the edge of the planes was a large dock, which Togekiss immediately glided down to. A couple of Farfetch'd hurried out of a small hut near the end of the dock and started to scrape the ice off of Togekiss's wings.

"Thank you, as always." Togekiss said to the two Farfetch'd.

"Always a pleasure for you, Lady Togekiss." One of the Farfetch'd said before the two of them hurried away.

Quill and Aamira jumped off of her back, stretching their aching limbs. They hadn't noticed before, but they had become really tense from Togekiss dodging all of the lightning and doing complex maneuvers through the air currents. It was nice to be back on the ground again, even if it was miles in the air.

"So this is it?" Aamira asked. "How can this whole area be floating on top of the clouds like this?"

Togekiss gave an experimental flap of her wings. To her satisfaction, it seemed that the Farfetch'd hadn't missed any of the smaller pieces of ice. "A long time ago this whole area used to be the top of a mountain. Rayquaza was afraid of people from the ground coming here to involve us in their political ideals and such, so he destroyed it. The peak was kept floating by a strong magnetic current that flowed through the mountain and eventually a large cloud formed around it creating the cloud barrier and the storm clouds over Tempestas. Some of the debris from the mountain that flew up into the air in the explosion caused them to stay afloat as well, so along with these planes, there are other islands floating out in the clouds, some with dungeons or small villages on them."

"That's amazing." Quill said.

Togekiss nodded. "The Sky Plane isn't exactly a complete secret to those who live on the ground, though it's usually only known to pokemon with wings who have the ability to get here. Technically it's considered part of Divum. Anyway, we have to go up even higher. Rayquaza's shrine is on a separate island above this one."

Quill and Aamira jumped back onto her back and Togekiss flew back into the air. Sure enough there was another island floating high above the planes where there was a large building made entirely of wood and surrounded by a small artificial creak. They immediately noticed two pokemon flying through the air chasing each other around the shrine. One of them they noticed as Togekiss's daughter, Togetic. The other was their teammate, Shuppet.

"Hey, Shuppet!" Quill shouted. Shuppet ran over to them as Togekiss landed.

"It's about time you two got here." She said. "I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand this. There's not a single vengeful soul in this whole area. I'm starving!"

"Sorry about that." Aamira said. "Though it's not as if we really planned for this to happen."

"Is everyone else here?" Quill asked.

Shuppet nodded. "Yes. Everyone else is inside."

They walked inside and found everyone in the main room playing cards. Machop and Glameow seemed to be a little frustrated while Aron seemed to be having a lot of fun. All of them except for Shuppet and Gengar were wearing Sky Marks like their own.

"Oh hey, they're here!" Nuzleaf said. "What took you two so long?"

"That's it?" Aamira said. "'They're here'? We were worried sick about you guys! We thought that you had been kidnapped!"

Glameow threw her cards down on the table in disgust after drawing her last card. Apparently the infamous card Sharpedo of the team had hit a bad luck streak. "Well that's not too far from the truth. Do you honestly think we came here to be locked away in a shrine thousands of feet above the ground because we wanted to?"

"I could take you home now if you want." Togekiss said. "There's really nothing more for you to do here. The only problem is that it would be too dangerous to take you to Ignis right now and I can't guarantee you a free ride there after all of this trouble is over with."

"We might as well stay then, right?" Machop said. "I'd rather have a free ride there later than to be stranded somewhere else and have to pay for a ferry ride."

"Might as well." Aron said while he happily stowed away the coins he had won from Glameow and Machop in his bag. Aamira and Quill were starting to worry about the influence those two were having on him.

"If you would?" Togekiss said while walking towards the door at the back of the room. "We don't have much time to waste, so would you two come with me?"

Quill and Aamira hurried after Togekiss while everyone else resumed what they had been doing earlier.

"I thought you said you were keeping them busy." Quill said.

"Well a lot of missions they would have to fly to complete." She said. "They haven't been able to do more than help out around town by making deliveries and lifting heavy barrels. Things of that nature. It does get boring after a while. It's how I started out actually."

The two of them followed Togekiss through a long hallway with a door at the end. Through the door was a small garden with the river flowing through it, leaving a small space of land in the middle of it in a sort of small island. They crossed the river by going over some stepping stones to a smaller shrine that was in the center of the small island.

When Togekiss opened the door to the shrine, they found a green glowing sphere inside of it. It had a strange yellowish glow to it that was radiating from the center and was without a doubt a treasure belonging to a legendary pokemon.

Aamira walked up to the shrine and picked up the sphere. It was slightly larger than Articuno, Zapdos, or Moltres's treasure, smaller than Suicune's and, they supposed, Raikou and Entei's though they had never seen theirs, and surprisingly light. The surface was so smooth that it felt as if it was made of ice and Aamira had to hold it carefully out of fear of dropping it.

Togekiss nodded. "Alright, so you've got the Green Orb now. I can fly you to the Celestial Tower where Rayquaza lives, but I can't do much more than that. If I tried to accompany you to the top, Rayquaza might not come when summoned. Normally the one to touch the orb would be the only one able to enter, but since you two are an Aura Reader and Aura Guardian, I doubt that it would be much of a problem for you two."

The two of them nodded and climbed back onto Togekiss's back. The sun was just starting to set as they flew off towards the tower. Celestial Tower was apparently on the other side of the planes, so even with Togekiss's speed, it would take a while.

Aamira couldn't help wonder about everyone back in Ignis and even Aequor, if the battle had spread that far. Aequor might have had a rotten king, but the people living there still seemed pretty nice. It would be terrible if all of those innocent people were attacked. Aside from that, on the islands of Ignis, there were many rock and fire types. If the water level started to rise, they would have nowhere to go.

Aside from that, she was suddenly aware of how tired she was. One day they had been battling with Hunter in the semifinals, then there was the earthquake and before they knew it they were going to Aequor. After that getting caught in that current and swept away to a distant desert had been no fun. Not to mention going through that large series of dungeons, being faced with the threat of being captured by Bounty Hunters, and finally being able to return home with Latias and Latios only to see Kyogre and Groudon wreaking havoc. Now they had flown through three layers of a dense cloud barrier to a place they were never supposed to have known about to summon a giant dragon. If only they could have a few real minutes to rest.

They got to Celestial tower just before dusk, so it was still easy to see it. The tower was made of some sort of dark blue material that seemed to imitate the color of the night sky. Running through it were pulsating veins switching between green and yellow that created patterns similar to the ones on Groudon and Kyogre's armor.

"So we just go to the top, right?" Quill asked.

Togekiss nodded. "When at the top, place the Green Orb on the altar and that should send a signal to summon Rayquaza. After that the two of you combined should be able to control Rayquaza with the orb."

"Alright, let's get going." Aamira took the lead and the two of them walked into the tower.

Togekiss had returned to her shrine by nightfall. She retired to her bedroom and got a few moments of sleep before she heard her door creaking opened. She opened her eyes and saw little Togepi peeking through the door. Normally Togepi would have been raised on the ground, but because of the Green Orb's sudden activity some time after she hatched, she had no choice but to bring her to the Sky Planes early in order to both raise her and keep an eye on the orb.

Togekiss gave her daughter a warm smile. "What's the matter, Togepi?"

"Those pokemon saved me before, right?" She asked. "They're nice pokemon. I don't want Ray to eat them…"

Togekiss's smile widened. Lately her daughters hadn't been getting along. She figured now that it was because Togetic had mentioned them to their mother. She must have blamed Togetic for the two pokemon who saved her going to meet a giant dragon pokemon.

Togekiss walked up to her daughter and wrapped a wing around her. "Don't you worry; Ray's not a bad pokemon. I'm sure he won't eat them."

Togepi hugged her mother tightly, obviously wanting to believe her but still worried about Quill and Aamira. "Momma, if they become friends with Ray, does that mean you can stay here with me? You won't have to leave anymore?"

"That's exactly what it means." Togekiss was getting tired of being away from home herself. It would be nice to spend time with her daughters again. Especially since Togepi was still so young. Practically her whole life her mother had been off searching for some heroes.

The two of them jumped when they heard a bang from the main room. It sounded as if someone was banging on the thin press wood door. Togekiss held her wing out to keep Togepi behind her and walked out into the hall cautiously. The first thing she would have figured was that it was one of Team Sleuth's members, though they had normally slept soundly and hadn't made a noise even when they had gotten up in the middle of the night.

Togekiss proceeded into the main room and gave a small sigh of relief. It had been one of them after all, though she wasn't entirely sure what they were doing. In the main room, Shuppet was banging her head at a steady rate against the door.

"Shuppet, what are you doing?" Togekiss asked.

"Huh?" Shuppet's eyes opened and she turned to Togekiss and stared between her and the door. "Oh, I'm sorry. I have a bad habit of flying around in my sleep when I'm hungry. But that's a little funny."

"What is?" Togekiss asked.

Shuppet shook her head as if irritated by something. "The whole time I've been here I haven't sensed any vengeful souls and very few negative emotions overall. But just a while ago, my horn started itching. There's definitely a vengeful soul somewhere in the Sky Planes."

"And there wasn't one before?" Togekiss asked.

Shuppet flew around in the air, pacing back and fourth. "No, wait. That's not it. There's not just one vengeful soul, but two. I sense two coming from the direction you flew off in with Aamira and Quill."

"What?" Togekiss wasn't entirely sure what to think of this, but she was sure the vengeful feelings wouldn't be coming from Aamira and Quill. Someone was there with them.

"So you two… all this time…" Aamira said, staring at their opponents in shock. With all that had happened recently, she wasn't expecting this. Quill was shaking, no doubt from the bad memories of his academy days suddenly resurfacing as the realization of what was happening finally began to sink in.

Croconaw smirked. "Never expected us, did you? A lot has happened since we first left Sylva."

"Since they forced us to run from Sylva, you mean!" Crawdaunt rubbed her claws together as if sharpening them for the battle. "You especially, Aamira. If you had never shown up, that former weakling friend of yours never would have become and Investigation Team member. If not for you two, we would have become an official Investigation Team in Sylva instead of Aequor."

"Former weakling?" Quill said.

"We won't deny you're a lot stronger than you were back then." Crawdaunt said. "Both of you are. We've been holding back and waiting all this time, acting as sleepers for Slowking for a moment just like this. We've gotten a lot stronger too. I think it's time we finally released all of this built up rage we've been holding back and find out once and for all which of our teams is the superior Investigation Team."


	44. Chapter 44 The Outcome of Revenge

For Croconaw and Crawdaunt to have been able to contain their anger for so long must have been an incredible challenge. Aamira had gone through quite a bit of training in order to control her emotions, with mixed results, and the prospect of keeping a grudge hidden like this astounded her.

Before either of them had time to really react to this sudden turn of events, Crawdaunt ran towards them and used Crabhammer with a speed they had no idea she was capable of. Aamira was just barely able to dodge, though she and Quill were separated in the process. Croconaw stayed farther back and used Hydro Pump, which Quill was also just barely able to dodge. They could hardly believe it; two attacks in and they were already running from their opponents.

Aamira attacked Croconaw with Aura Sphere, but before it could land, Crawdaunt moved to the side and easily blocked it with a wave of her claw. In spite of her being part dark type, it didn't seem to have done much damage against the armor-like shell that covered her body.

Crawdaunt used Swords Dance to power up her attack power. Normally it would have been a good time to attack, but to distract them, Croconaw used Ancientpower on the two of them. Quill frantically tried to dodge the falling rocks while Aamira destroyed most of the ones that came her way with Drain Punch and Aura Sphere.

Right when Crawdaunt's attack power was fully raised, she ran towards Quill and attacked with Crunch, snapping her claws furiously until she finally managed to get a hold of him and threw him across the room.

Aamira ran towards Crawdaunt with the intent of feinting to the side and using Drain Punch in an attempt to weaken her for a while so they would only have one opponent to deal with. Just as she was about to attack, Croconaw attacked with Hydro Pump and knocked her across the room after Quill.

Their strategy was obvious: Crawdaunt would raise her attack and attack from close range while also using her shell as a shield to block any attacks aimed at Croconaw, who would stay farther back as support her from a distance with long ranged attacks. Their team was a good combination and their strategy was proving effective so far.

"If you have any ideas, I'm all ears." Aamira said to Quill and Crawdaunt ran towards them.

"We would need a move with a type advantage to knock out Croconaw." It was obvious he was trying to sound brave, though he was shaking pretty badly. He dodged Crawdaunt's Crabhammer and attacked with Flamethrower, which she was easily able to block. From farther back, Croconaw attacked Aamira with multiple Water Guns, not giving her a chance to either attack him or defend Quill. "If we could knock him out then we could team up against Crawdaunt."

Aamira was countering most of the Water Guns with Aura Sphere, though if she ever tried to attack him directly he would counter her attacks just as easily. "But the only move I know like that is Thunderpunch and I've hardly had the time to master it! Besides, how would I get close enough to manage it?"

"I-I don't know, but we can't fight Crawdaunt up close like this with him attacking us from a distance." Quill shouted as Crawdaunt hit him hard with a Crabhammer.

Crawdaunt immediately switched to attacking Aamira, cutting off any path she had to get to Quill to help him. Meanwhile, Crawdaunt had switched to attacking Quill, barely giving him enough time to stand up.

Aamira tried to imagine that Crawdaunt's claws were Ruko's cane. They had sparred a lot and it had hurt more than would have been expected from a simple piece of curved wood whenever she got hit with it. While she had become better at dodging, it was obvious that this tactic would tire her out a lot faster than it would Crawdaunt.

Aamira stopped dodging and grabbed one of Crawdaunt's claws with one hand and the second claw with her other when Crawdaunt tried to attack with it. Aamira held Crawdaunt at bay to keep her from attacking with the claws near her stomach. When Croconaw tried to attack Aamira with Hydro Pump, Aamira managed to swing the struggling Crawdaunt in front of her to use her own armor as a shield.

While Croconaw was distracted by Aamira and Crawdaunt, Quill managed to dig under the ground. Aamira realized what he was trying to do and simultaneously released Crawdaunt and jumped over her and started to run towards Croconaw. She was just barely able to dodge the attacks that Croconaw had fired at her, but Crawdaunt was fast. She managed to catch up to Aamira easily without any attacks being aimed at her.

Quill came up from under Croconaw's feet and attacked with Rollout. Croconaw tried to attack with Water Gun, but Quill was rolling too fast and Croconaw was obviously too inexperienced with close ranged combat to be able to counter effectively.

Croconaw eventually decided that it was best to conserve his energy and stop attacking. He waited until Quill got close enough then managed to grab and throw him with Superpower. Quill cringed as he hit the ground. It was obvious the attack had caused him a lot of damage, but it also seemed to wear Croconaw down quite a bit.

Aamira and Crawdaunt had been fighting the entire time Quill and Croconaw had been struggling to overpower one another. As far as attacks went, the two of them were evenly matched, but Crawdaunt's defense seemed to be a lot better than Aamira's.

Aamira winced as she was grazed by a Crabhammer and managed to counter with Drain Punch. Unfortunately, it still wasn't doing as much damage as it should have been and she wasn't able to recover much strength from it.

The attack, luckily, had knocked Crawdaunt off balance just as she had attacked again. Aamira dodged out of the way and used Aura Sphere to knock her back. By this time Quill and Croconaw had resumed their fight. Luckily they finally managed to use their resonation to get a brief idea of what the other was planning, since the battle had so far made it difficult for them to communicate. Through a small flicker of thought, they managed to come up with a plan that the two of them were equally confident would work.

Just as Croconaw tried to attack with Superpower again, Quill dove and dug into the ground. Aamira ran towards Croconaw, dreading to do what she was about to. When Crawdaunt tried to chase after her, Quill dug up under her feet and attacked with Flame wheel.

With Crawdaunt distracted, Aamira found approaching Croconaw to be much easier. His attacks were slower after using Superpower and were much easier to dodge. She got up close enough and used Thunderpunch and knocked him out instantly.

"No!" Crawdaunt managed to finally hit Quill back with Crabhammer and turned to face the two of them.

"Why don't you just give it up already?" Aamira said. "I know you hold some sort of grudge against us, but if Kyogre and Groudon keep fighting, what will happen to the people in Aequor and Ignis? We have to stop them!"

"Do you think I care?" Crawdaunt said in an eerily calm voice. "Who do you think it was that told them about Charmeleon stealing the Grace-Seed in the first place? If I hadn't done that, Slowking would have never caught on to what Ignis was trying to do."

"You did what!" Quill snapped at her.

"Oh should it really surprise you?" Crawdaunt said. "Little Corphish comes washed down the stream, unconscious after being attacked by a hoard of Victreebel only to find myself in the capital of Sylva. I was grieved after losing my mother and being left all alone in a strange country I didn't know. For a while, the pokemon there in the river division took care of me. Then, before I knew it, they all had something better to do. They left me half injured to focus on harvesting berries to give to Chansey. She was trying to make a special medicine to treat a couple of half dead pokemon who had wandered in from who knows where.

"What a cruel thing!" it was obvious that Crawdaunt's rage was starting to build. "Leave one injured pokemon alone and unattended to treat two others! To make matters worse, as soon as you and Espeon were completely healed, you didn't even acknowledge that they had saved you. I was left alone without my mother, only wanting a little attention after suddenly being left all alone and what do you do? Everyone gives you all of the attention and you pushed everyone away!"

"Hang on!" Quill said desperately. "It's not like—"

"Soon enough, everyone's going on about your younger brother who they hadn't been able to save, even though I saw no evidence that he had ever even existed before then. and then to push Espeon away entirely and not even remember that she was your mother… I'm afraid to say it almost felt like you were personally mocking me! If I hadn't met Croconaw, I don't know what I would have done.

"Of course I assumed things would get better once Croconaw helped me get enrolled at school. Espeon was our teacher, which gave me some level of satisfaction knowing that she would be spending more time teaching us instead of her own son. Everyone loved the new student. And then what happened! You enrolled the very next day! Enrolled by Noctowl, no less! Everyone liked you better from the very start! A fire type in Sylva? Who cared? You brother had apparently just died and everyone was somehow convinced that you were an orphan!

"I've hated you ever since. You got terrible grades and no one seemed to care while we had done pretty well for our first year of school and no one acknowledged us at all! But of course, Cyndaquil scare easily don't they? And such a young one had no control over his fire…"

"It's all because of you!" Aamira shouted. "The reason you bullied Quill… you just wanted to show everyone he couldn't control his fire! It's because of that that everyone else thought he was going to burn down the forest by accident or something! Because of you he grew up without any friends!"

"So what?" Crawdaunt said. "I finally had a bit of revenge. I had Croconaw and Quill wouldn't become friends with Aipom and Mankey until after Chimchar ran off to Ignis. Even then, he was never as close with them as we were. But then, right when we secured our final victory by being approved for the final test to become and Investigation Team, you showed up. The Riolu with no memory who, of course, got just as much attention as Quill had when he showed up. He had a friend and suddenly he was allowed to form and Investigation Team with you. Hardly fair I should think!"

"So that's why you hate us so much…" Quill said. "If you had only said something when you were younger—"

"Hah!" Crawdaunt waved a claw angrily at Quill. "Then what? We could have been best buddies? As if. No one ever got the chance to speak with you anyway. You were always running off to the lake to talk to yourself! But never mind that, what about your buddy, Aamira? Like a comet just appearing out of nowhere and suddenly your team is so great? One of the leaders of a resistance in an alternate world? The very idea of you two saving the world. It could have been me. I could have done it so much better than either of you. I knew what was really going on long before either of you knew and you still had to steal all of the glory!"

"It's not about glory!" Aamira shouted over her. "If you want to save the world so badly, then go on! You go talk to Rayquaza and get him to stop Kyogre and Groudon! Take all of the credit, I don't care!"

"A-As long as it gets done, it doesn't mater who does it." Aamira hadn't heard Quill sound so nervous since she had first met him. "We came because it was the right thing to do. It's what anyone would have done if they had the opportunity."

"I don't want the glory of saving Ignis." Crawdaunt said. "Remember what I said? My mother had died. I never mentioned who my father was. Slowking's thought of everything. And when Ignis is gone, we'll be hailed as the heroes of Aequor!"

"Slowking's your father!" Somehow, this didn't really surprise Aamira. Though there wasn't much of a physical resemblance, they acted pretty similar. "So wait, he just left you in Sylva, didn't he? All of those years and he never came looking?"

"He never knew." Crawdaunt said. "He had assumed that I died with my mother. I was either too young or too weak to make it back to Aequor on my own. When running away after the test, we only managed to get to Aequor by the scales of our tails and that's only after training long enough in the area to hear about Charmeleon stealing the Grace-Seed. He was delighted to see that I had returned and even more so after telling him about Charmeleon. Of course we were instantly made into an official team in Aequor. With all of the countries in turmoil at the time, what was Noctowl supposed to do about it? Unless we returned to Sylva he couldn't do anything. And after helping the resistance in Atra, of course we had earned a favorable enough reputation for him not to mind anymore. As far as he knew, we could be considered victims of circumstance and two of many heroes."

Suddenly Aamira realized what had happened. "You've been hiding. Ever since you were younger, you were hiding."

"From what?" she said. "Please do tell, I'm so interested."

"From everyone." Aamira said. "You were frustrated because of how weak you were, is that it? I bet Quill was considered a prodigy before you interfered. And why not challenge us before now? You've been afraid. You're scared of us. you were even too scared to go home before you were forced to."

Crawdaunt laughed. "Scared of you? You're stronger than when we first met, but even then we're still stronger. It was only through trickery that you managed to knock out Croconaw."

'Keep telling yourself that.' Aamira thought, though she didn't dare say it. "So then what now? Are you just going to get your revenge on us by yourself?"

"But of course." She said. "Beating the two of you will be enjoyable, but it will be even better knowing that you'll both have to watch the other suffer and won't be able to do a thing about it! You're weakened now thanks to Croconaw and my armor is as strong as ever. The two of you, even working together, don't stand a chance."

Croconaw attacked Aamira without warning, starting their battle again in a split second. Quill attacked from behind with Flame wheel, but Croconaw didn't seem to even feel it. Aamira managed to hit her with Drain punch and as she staggered back, Quill used dig and came up under her feet, causing her to topple over and immediately attacked with Flamethrower, which burned through the shell which was apparently a lot softer right where the legs attached to the body.

She struggled to get up and turned to Quill, obviously outraged. Aamira fired a few Aura Spheres, which she easily managed to knock aside with one of her claws. Crawdaunt ran towards Quill, who had just landed on the ground and immediately managed to grab him using Guillotine before Aamira had time to land an attack.

Quill struggled for a second, but the power of Guillotine and Crawdaunt's claws was apparently too much for him. He passed out and Crawdaunt threw him to the side.

"Quill!" Aamira shouted.

"One down!" Crawdaunt said triumphantly before running towards Aamira. Aamira tried to dodge to the side and use Thunderpunch again, but it wouldn't work. Being able to attack Croconaw before was apparently just luck. Crawdaunt swung around and hit her to the side with Crabhammer. Aamira stumbled and just as she stood up, she saw Crawdaunt coming towards her, preparing to use Guillotine again.

Without thinking, Aamira used Sucker Punch on Crawdaunt's claw just as she opened it to attack. Crawdaunt screamed as she was thrown back across the room. The shell on her claw had cracked and small pieces of it were laying on the ground where she had previously been standing. Aamira stood with her right arm holding her left where Crawdaunt had landed a hit with the last Crabhammer. Her attack had hit her scars directly, making her entire arm go numb.

Aamira had never been so mad at anyone before. Crawdaunt had hurt Quill, not only in this battle but as they were growing up, before Aamira was even around to protect him. She started to walk towards the dazed Crawdaunt slowly; only able to think about how she wanted Crawdaunt to hurt the same way. An overwhelming desire for revenge had suddenly washed over her.

Crawdaunt finally regained her senses enough to notice Aamira walking towards her with a strange look in her eyes. She didn't know what had happened and she might not have known Aamira very well, but she knew enough to understand that this wasn't what she was like. Something was seriously wrong, as if Aamira had suddenly been replaced by some sinister duplicate who wasn't nearly as merciful or understanding as Aamira was. The only way she could describe the look in Aamira's eyes was evil.

"S-Stay away!" Crawdaunt tried to stand back up, but her burns were making it difficult to move, especially after being knocked across the room. "Please, stay away…"

"Begging will get you nowhere." In any other instance, the tone in Aamira's voice would have been enough to scare herself, but somehow in this instance it seemed perfectly normal. She raised her left hand and formed an Aura Sphere that seemed to swarm with dark aura that would have done anything to get free. It was without a doubt the strongest Aura Sphere that she had ever managed to make.

"Please don't! Don't hurt her!" Aamira stopped. Whose voice was that? At first she thought it was Quill's but that wasn't right; he was still unconscious. It was Croconaw's! He had finally managed to regain consciousness and was watching helplessly, obviously either too scared or too tired and weak to attack or do anything else to help Crawdaunt.

'What am I doing!' Aamira took a deep breath and managed to calm herself. She let the Aura Sphere fade and let her arm fall to her side. She felt slightly dizzy and had to bend over with her hands on her knees to keep herself from falling over. Whatever just happened, it had scared her just as much, maybe even more, than Croconaw and Crawdaunt.

"I'm sorry…" Aamira managed to say in a whimpering voice, the exact opposite of the one she had spoken with before. "I give up… you win. Will that make you happy?"

"You're joking." Crawdaunt managed to shake off the shock of what had just happened and finally got back up on her feet. "You're just going to quit now! What happened? Go on and finish me off, you coward!"

"Crawdaunt, stop it!" Croconaw said desperately.

"Come on!" Crawdaunt shouted. "Fight me already!" she attacked Aamira with Crabhammer with her uninjured claw, which she didn't even bother trying to dodge. Aamira was knocked back on the floor and Crawdaunt walked towards her, preparing to use another attack.

"That's enough!" Croconaw limped forward and stood between them. "Please, that's enough… She gave up so we've won already… She apologized, so why can't we just leave it at that and stop this senseless violence!"

Aamira would have never thought that she would see Crawdaunt cry, but she was getting pretty close to it. She lowered her claw and placed it over the damaged shell on her other claw. "How could I… forgive her for anything…! My claw… I'll probably never be able to use it in a battle again. How could I—"

Aamira couldn't see Croconaw's face, but it was obvious that whatever way he was looking at Crawdaunt made her feel terrible. Aamira had assumed before that Croconaw just did whatever Crawdaunt told him to do, but now it was obvious that it wasn't the case.

Crawdaunt looked away. It was obvious that she didn't know how to feel. Had she really won? Normally her pride would have allowed her to take victory in this situation, but between Aamira's abnormal behavior, Croconaw's pleading, and her own desire to take victory by fighting, it was obvious that she didn't know what to thing.

"I-I'm sorry." Immediately after she managed to say this, she ran off towards the stairs to head back to the entrance of the dungeon. Croconaw waited for a moment before following after her.

Aamira didn't want to get up. After everything that had happened, all she could do is lay there and think about what had happened. She knew that Hunter couldn't control his dark aura and that if he tried to use any attacks it would usually try to control him instead. Had that been what happened to her?

The scariest part was, she didn't mind it. It was so easy to just let it take over and do everything for her. After all of the fighting, it was eerily quiet and this was all that Aamira could think about. She was terrified in the worst sort of way. Instead of being terrified of an opponent who she could easily try to fight against, she was scared of herself. How far would she have gone if Croconaw hadn't snapped her out of it at the last second?

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed Quill wake up. He looked around confused, obviously still expecting Crawdaunt to be fighting Aamira, who would no doubt have been heroically defending him from her crazed attacks the whole time he had been unconscious. Instead he saw only a few pieces of broken shell on the ground and Aamira apparently passed out.

Quill managed to get up and walked over to Aamira. "Aamira, are you alright?"

His voice had been so unexpected that Aamira nearly jumped. "Yea, I'm fine. They were a lot stronger than I thought though…"

"No kidding. Do you have any Oran Berries left? I think I still have a couple." Quill dug around in his bag until he found a couple and gave one to Aamira and ate the other one himself. "So what happened?"

"Crawdaunt's attacks are pretty vicious. I just barely managed to fight her off and collapsed just as they ran away! I don't think they'll be bothering us anymore."

At first Quill was glad to hear this, but something didn't seem right. After all of their attacks, Crawdaunt had hardly been able to feel it through her shell. Now Aamira was collapsed on the ground and pieces of Crawdaunt's shell were everywhere. Aamira finished eating the berry and sat up. She laughed as if she had just won some amazing battle.

For her, it was easy to pretend to be happy. At least until Quill spoke again. "So what really happened?"

Aamira's laughter died down and she suddenly looked really serious and grim. "I… I'll tell you later. Right now we have to get to Rayquaza."

Quill nodded. He didn't like it, but whatever happened, the details would have to wait. They still had an important mission that needed to be finished. Aamira would tell him what really happened when she was ready.

The two of them continued through the tower in silence. It felt strangely like when they had climbed through the Tower of Origin. This time Quill knew that she was keeping some sort of secret. He hoped that this secret wouldn't lead to the same ending as before. For a minute he wondered if maybe she had lost the battle and was too embarrassed to admit it, but that didn't seem right. He couldn't shake off how the pieces of Crawdaunt's shell were on the floor. After all of their attacks, her armor had held before.

As they continued through the floors of the tower, Quill noticed that whenever Aamira did get into a battle, it was only halfheartedly and, in addition to Sucker Punch, she didn't seem too keen on using Aura Sphere either, which was strange since it was one of her favorite attacks. She even used Thunderpunch whenever she had to, though it didn't seem to work two thirds of the time she used it.

Finally they reached a large winding staircase that seemed to stretch up the rest of the tower. It wasn't so much a staircase as it was a long and, unfortunately, smooth ramp. The side of it was carved into the shape of a large, serpent-like dragon. The metal ramp caused their footsteps to echo loudly as they stepped on it. There was no railing or anything else to keep them from falling over the edge. The ramp wound around the side of the tower for at least fifty feet. They slipped several times, but luckily they managed to keep away from the edge.

At the top of the tower were two large statues, at least ten feet tall of a serpent dragon similar to the one carved into the side of the ramp, facing each other with their mouths open in a silent roar. They were carved with astounding precision and it made them worry about how they were going to be able to control the real thing.

Between the two statues was a small altar that was made mainly of jade. All of the lines that had covered the tower seemed to meet here at this altar where they met and formed a circle in the center.

"It looks like we just put it in the center of the circle there." Quill said.

Aamira nodded, took the Green Orb out of the bag, and placed it on the center of the altar. The yellow lines started to pulse out from the center of the altar. The color in the lines spread up the sides of the two statues and started to glow brightly. Beams of light shot from their mouths and where they collided in the air, they shot a similar beam of light higher into the sky.

Eventually the light faded along with the color of the lines on the statues' armor. Everything seemed to have gone back to the way it was before they had placed the Green Orb. For a while, nothing happened. At this height, the wind was strong and overpowered the sound of everything else. Even so, it was eerily quiet at the top of this tower, thousands of feet above the earth.

Eventually they heard a roar off in the distance. They were so high up that even the clouds were far below them at this point. Off in the distance, they could see a green glimmering shape twisting through the air with abnormal clarity. When it was above the tower, it twisted in the air and flew towards them. Just before it landed on the floor, it curled in the air and hovered in front of them behind the altar.

Why had they thought the statues looked big? That was all they could think of. The real thing seemed to be more than twice their size. Rayquaza growled lowered his head slowly until he was just above their eye level.

"So finally, someone has been deemed courageous enough to summon me." They couldn't tell if he was wagging his tail in anticipation or because he had to in order to stay in the air. Both seemed equally likely.

Staring into the huge dragon's eyes, Aamira couldn't help but tremble. She had the feeling that it would be very bad to get into a battle with a pokemon like Rayquaza. "We need your help. Kyogre and Groudon are fighting again and a lot of people could get hurt If we don't stop them."

"Oh?" Rayquaza curled up a little tighter and settled onto the ground. "So what do you intend to do? I'm not about to leave this tower." He laughed, which sounded strangely sinister. "I have no intention of leaving the ozone. I have sworn to never descend to the ground again. Unless you two children actually intend to try to control me with the Green Orb? Or perhaps…" Rayquaza lowered his head again and sniffed at the two of them, "I haven't had anything to eat since I last descended to the ground. How could I deny a couple of snacks who would so generously save me the trouble of hunting by coming to my tower? Cyndaquil are a rare delicacy and I've never tasted Riolu before. The prospect is quite tempting."

Quill faltered a little and backed away, hiding partially behind Aamira. Obviously if he considered Cyndaquil delicacies, it would have meant that he had eaten some before. "I-I don't taste good. I've grown up in a forest my whole life, so I taste like pollen and leaves…"

"Fine by me. I never enjoyed the aftertaste of sulfur." Rayquaza jumped as Quill jumped back out of fear. "I've got an idea. Go on and try to control me with that accursed gemstone. If you succeed, no doubt I wouldn't be able to eat you. If you fail though, you'll have to get used to living in a stomach with acid melting the flesh from your bones."

Quill was obviously too scared to try it himself, so Aamira stepped up to the altar. Hopefully the link they shared as an Aura Reader and Aura Guardian would still make it possible to control Rayquaza. Aamira placed her hand on the Green Orb, but hesitated.

She couldn't help thinking about what had happened before. When her aura had controlled her, she hadn't even realized that she wasn't in control of her own actions until it was almost too late. It was a terrible feeling, and yet strangely enough there was something that was somewhat enjoyable about it. But was it really possible to be able to control someone else with her aura?

'It's just like what Mismagius did…' she realized. 'Controlling other pokemon, no matter what the reason…'

Aamira pulled her hand back as if the orb had burned her. "I can't do it."

Rayquaza laughed. "What a sad attempt. I would have thought that you would have at least have been strong enough for it to tickle, but to not feel anything at all? Are you sure you're an Aura Reader?"

"No." Aamira said. "I'm a Dark Reader." Rayquaza roared and backed away as if she were something venomous. "Another Dark Reader once tried to take control of a bunch of pokemon in order to take over the world. I used to hear the voices of the pokemon under her control, asking me to help them. Being controlled by dark aura isn't something that's very fun to experience. Dark aura or not, trying to control other pokemon is just wrong. After all, an attempt to control Groudon and Kyogre going horribly wrong is the whole reason we came up here to get your help in the first place."

"You're saying that you'd rather I eat you than you control me? Is that it?" he asked.

Quill looked unsure for a second, obviously still shaken by Rayquaza's threat, but it was obvious that he agreed with Aamira's decision. Aamira nodded. Rayquaza reared up as if about to strike at them and suddenly flew towards them. His speed was so astonishing that they had no time to move out of the way. Instead of swallowing them whole, they ended up being flung onto the top of Rayquaza's head. Rayquaza flew into the air and bent his neck so that the two of them could climb up easier.

Once the two of them had grabbed onto a horn on either side of his head, Rayquaza reached up and handed Aamira the Green Orb. "You two did well to pass my test."

"What?" Quill was obviously confused. He had thought that Rayquaza wanted to eat them. It never occurred to either of them that it could have been a test.

"What test was it, exactly?" Aamira asked.

"Life couldn't exist as it does without earth, ocean, or sky. Kyogre and Groudon know this and would never fight unless prompted to. It's true that the two are rivals and may battle with each other from time to time over trivial things, but never in a manner so serious that the fate of the world would be at stake. That would only happen when others would attempt to control them. Verity realized this and didn't want me to have to constantly rescue such mean spirited pokemon from their own mistakes. In the event that the two of you had tried to control me, I was to leave Groudon and Kyogre to their battle and let fate decide the outcome. The decision you two made has proved that there are still kind pokemon in the world. Because of this, even if it were only the two of you, I would stop their battle for the sake of leaving a world for those kind pokemon to live in."

"The entire world could be evil." Aamira said. "But even if we were the only good ones, you would still save the world just for us?"

Rayquaza nodded, but not enough to make their footing any more perilous than it already was. "The world can be rebuilt. Burned trees will grow back. Coral reefs could be reformed. The lives that could possibly be destroyed will never be replaced. So for the sake of the kindhearted pokemon who still exist, no matter how few it may be, I would save the world. Though, I must admit, I never expected one of the pokemon to call on me for help and succeed to be a Dark Reader."

The two of them smiled. It has just sunken in for the first time that they had nearly completed their mission. Rayquaza was on their side now. All they had to do was fly back to the ocean and it would all finally come to an end.

"So what is the Green Orb for?" Aamira asked. "If Verity didn't use it to control you, what was it used for?"

"To give me extra energy of course. Sky, ocean, and earth are supposed to be equals. To defeat the two of them and drive them off, I'll need an extra boost of strength. In the past, Verity and I had flown into battle together, but I suppose the two of you sitting on my head would work just as well."

Rayquaza finally flew off. Before heading back to the west, he flew south and farther down until he passed by the shine where Togekiss lived. She was outside at the time watching Shuppet and Aron play with her children while Nuzleaf, Gengar, and Machop argued over something an Glameow slept in a tree.

They all tensed up as the wind from Rayquaza passing by had rattled the shrine doors and had nearly knocked them off of the floating island. Togekiss flapped her wings frantically as her way of waving to them. Aamira tried to shout back at them, but they didn't seem to hear.

Aamira had thought that Latias and Latios had been fast, but in a race, they and Togekiss never would have stood a chance against Rayquaza. To her relief, he flew back into the ozone layer and bypassed the cloud barrier entirely. Aamira didn't think she could stand going though there again.

Before they knew it, they saw the ocean in the distance. Rayquaza descended slightly and Kyogre and Groudon came into view. To their relief, they had moved away from Ignis and no significant damage seemed to have been done to the islands. Groudon was standing on a platform of igneous rock that he had created in the water. Normally this would have given Kyogre a huge advantage, but they seemed so intent on attacking each other head on that Kyogre didn't seem interested in using the ocean much to its advantage.

Rayquaza dove towards them and roared louder than they had heard him roar so far. The two of them looked up at Rayquaza and immediately went back to fighting. Rayquaza flew down between the two of them, the wind from his body forcing the two of them to stumble backwards. At first it seemed that Groudon would wall into the ocean, but it seemed like the igneous slab of rock reformed wherever he stepped as if somehow conscious of Groudon's thoughts.

Groudon fired a Solar Beam at Rayquaza, which Rayquaza dodged with ease. He swooped down and bit Groudon on the arm. When Kyogre tried to attack Rayquaza from behind, Rayquaza hit Kyogre with his tail and sent it flying into the ocean. While Kyogre was swimming to the surface, Rayquaza managed to subdue Groudon and wrestle him to the ground.

Rayquaza was already starting to get tired. Kyogre and Groudon seemed perfectly content to work together if it meant stopping an interloper from intruding on their battle. The two of them used a combination of Solar Beam and Ice Beam, which Rayquaza countered with Hyper Beam. The three attacks collided and Kyogre and Groudon fought desperately to overpower Rayquaza. Aamira and Quill started to feel somewhat fatigued, no doubt from Rayquaza borrowing a little of their energy. Eventually the Hyper Beam pushed back the other two attacks and Kyogre dove under the ocean and Groudon ran to the side in an attempt to escape the full force of the attack, though both seemed to have been badly injured by the attack.

Fighting the desire to rest for a moment after using Hyper Beam, Rayquaza hissed at the two of them and let loose a screech like roar that made Quill and Aamira's teeth rattle. It might not have been so bad if they were on the ground instead of standing on Rayquaza's head.

The two pokemon below them flinched back from Rayquaza. The lines in their armor slowly started to fade until they had stopped glowing entirely. Kyogre turned to Groudon and said something in a language that sounded to Aamira and Quill to be just a bunch of random roars and grunts. Groudon nodded and responded in the same way.

Kyogre backed away from Groudon somewhat, keeping a suspicious eye on him the entire time, and eventually turned and dove under the waves. Groudon kept staring at the spot in the water where Kyogre had vanished before taking a few steps back and eventually turning and walking towards Ignis, where he walked beneath the ocean and entered a crevasse that had opened in the base of one of the islands near a volcano.

Rayquaza looked between the spots where the two of them had disappeared and, after he was satisfied that they really had ended their battle, flew towards Ignis. Charmeleon and Milotic were on the beach of Ember when they returned Rayquaza got low enough to the ground that he would be able to lower his head enough for the two of them to jump off.

"I never thought I'd see something so amazing." Charmeleon noticed the orb that was still in Aamira's hand. "Wait, you're not controlling Rayquaza, are you?"

"Of course not!" Aamira snapped at him. Rayquaza chuckled, which sounded a lot more friendly than the laugh he had used before.

"So everything turned out well enough, at least." Milotic said. "I noticed a Mantine flying in the direction that the two of you had flown off in. He seemed to be carrying a couple of passengers, but I couldn't make out who they were. With Groudon threatening to step on Aequor a couple of times, I was afraid that something might happen to the two of you."

"As if Kyogre didn't nearly sink our island?" Charmeleon replied. "Don't act the victim; it doesn't suit you."

"Either way, I think we both realize now that controlling these pokemon was a terrible idea." Milotic slithered towards Rayquaza and placed the Red Orb in front of him.

"What I knew for quite some time. Though I suppose it is my fault that all of this happened in the first place." Charmeleon did likewise with the Blue Orb. "I don't think these treasures are safe in the hands of an average pokemon."

Aamira placed the Green Orb on the ground in front of the other two. "So what are you going to do now?" she asked Rayquaza.

Rayquaza looked at all of the pokemon gathered there in front of him. Just when they thought that he wasn't going to do anything, Rayquaza whipped his tail through the air. All four of them flinched, but instead of hitting them, Rayquaza slammed his tail on the ground, shattering all three of the treasures simultaneously before giving one last roar and shooting up into the air. Within a fraction of a second, he was gone and they were left standing there wondering if there actually had been a giant twenty foot tall legendary dragon pokemon hovering in the air not a few feet away from them.

The waves rolled in around their legs as the tide started to come in. The shards of the treasures bobbed feebly in the water before being gradually washed away.

"I… guess… that's the end of it." Milotic said while turning awkwardly to face Charmeleon.

Charmeleon nodded. "I know Aequor wasn't able to get a place in the tournament this year… but do you think… you'd like to come back some time? Not for a battle or anything but just… to talk?"

"Talk." She said. "Yes, that sounds nice. Perhaps I will. I suppose I should be going then…" She turned towards the ocean, but before leaving, she took Quill and Aamira's Water Marks out of her bag and threw them back to them. "Come visit some time. There are just as many missions you can take in the sea as there are in the air or on land."

With that, she disappeared beneath the waves.

Sometime later, Ruko had come to the room they were staying in at the Investigator's Brigade building. By then Togekiss had returned all of their friends, though they were off somewhere else enjoying the strangely pleasant weather for the day Ignis was nearly destroyed.

When he found them, he wasn't entirely surprised to find them both asleep and curled up into their beds. They had gone through so much in the past few days. It was only natural they would be tired, especially after lending their energy to Rayquaza.

And yet, something wasn't right. In his world, Kyogre and Groudon had fought relentlessly and had destroyed both Ignis and Aequor in the process. After wrestling to control Rayquaza with her aura, Aamira had flown back along with Quill to find that they were too late. Rayquaza had fought free of the influence of the Green Orb and had nearly killed both Aamira and Quill in the process, only for them to be fished out of the sea near the shores of Chalybs some time later.

It was obvious now that the flow of time had been entirely distorted by the strange turns of events. Maybe things would be different this time around. But how drastically so? Either way, Ruko was afraid now that his and Hunter's presence in this world was what had caused the distortion in this time. Too much of their influence in this world could be a bad thing. It would have to be done sooner or later.

"Quill. Aamira. Wake up. I need to talk with you two for a moment."

The two of them rubbed their eyes and sat up, turning to face Ruko.

"What is it, Gramps?" Aamira said drowsily. "Can't we get a few minutes of sleep?

"This is important." He said. "Aamira, I know something happened in Rayquaza's tower. I need you to tell me exactly what it was."

Suddenly, Aamira and Quill weren't so tired anymore. Aamira had dreaded telling Quill about it, but if she was going to, she might as well tell Ruko at the same time. So, reluctantly, she recounted the end of their battle with Team Rapids. Quill seemed horrified, but he wasn't shaking like Aamira was. It was one thing to hear about what happened and quite another to experience it.

"I figured as much." Ruko said grimly. "It would seem that you would need more practice using your dark aura unless you want something like this to happen again. Listen to be now, stubborn one. If you don't start using Sucker Punch more often an using your dark aura when you use Aura Sphere, you'll never be able to control it and you will eventually be driven to madness by it."

"You're joking!" Aamira said. "It was using dark aura that caused it in the first place and you want me to do it again?"

Ruko nodded. "Dark energy is more difficult to control than any other. You need to practice!" He had been using the voice he usually used when scolding her over similar issues, but when she was so quick to look away instead of arguing as she had usually done in the past, he realized that what had happened had scared her more than he realized. "I'm sorry. There shouldn't be a need to practice any time soon. If it would help, I would add that gaining better control over your aura would possibly help the two of you with resonating."

"Just get out." Aamira said to him in a flat tone, still not looking towards him.

Ruko was about to retaliate, but he realized it would probably be best just to leave her alone. "Very well. You should know, I'll be leaving in a couple of days. Hunter will leave after he's done with the tournament. If you wish to speak to me about anything, I suggest you do it before then, as we will most likely never see each other again.

Ruko waited for a reply. When he realized he wouldn't get one, he turned and walked out. After she was sure Ruko had really left, Aamira laid back in her hammock and went back to sleep.

Unknown to anyone, someone who they wouldn't have expected was watching their battle with the legendary pokemon. Charizard stood near the entrance of the temple that he had used as his house, still staring at the spot where Rayquaza had been. Where Quill and Aamira had returned to the land after Rayquaza had willingly ferried them all the way there from the Sky Planes.

Charizard had never been so infuriated. How is it that those children were able to earn the respect of such powerful legendaries? After all of his attempts to control Groudon himself, he had failed miserably and yet these children had succeeded as if it were no big deal? Traveling through an underwater world, trekking across a harsh desert, flying to the Sky Planes and returning with Rayquaza in such a short amount of time…

It should have been him! Charizard was the leader of Ignis, not them! HE should have been the one to save his country, but he lacked the power needed to do so! Why was fate so cruel as to laugh at him in the face and allow these two mere children to grow so strong where it seemed as though he had reached his limit! Charizard growled at the thought and roared as he let loose a powerful Flamethrower into the night sky.

"Mad, aren't we?" Honchkrow came out of hiding behind one of the pillars that supported the roof of the temple.

"Quiet bird." Charizard growled. "I swear I'll cook you alive if you ever talk to me that way again.

"But I was right, wasn't I?" Honchkrow said. "You're old, you're washed up, and yet that Flamethrower was pretty impressive. Although, as I've mentioned before, it could be made even more impressive."

"As you've said." the flame on Charizard's tail flickered as if in excitement. "So far a lot of what you've said has happened as you said they would. What do you know that I don't?"

Honchkrow smirked. "All in due time. First, I'm going to need your help with a little something. Succeed, and you'll become strong again."

Charizard was quiet for a while. Honchkrow was trying to seem confident, though he was worried that Charizard really would try to roast him if he wasn't careful. After an uncomfortably long silence, Charizard nodded. "I will hear what you have to say."


	45. Chapter 45 Aamira Brighteyes

Aamira screamed and woke up and looked around confused. What time was it? Couldn't have been more than a few hours past midnight. She might have been imagining it, or the nightmares really were getting worse. She had fallen asleep twice since returning from their mission to find Rayquaza, the first time she had been woken up by Ruko, and both times she had had a nightmare. The nightmares had been bad before, but they were never as consecutive as this.

Aside from the sudden increase in number, they also seemed to have gotten more realistic all of a sudden. That last time she hadn't been able to tell that she was sleeping at all. It almost felt like she was in one world when awake and another when asleep because of how realistic it had been. The only thing she could think of was that using her dark aura the way she had, or rather how it had used her, had somehow made them worse. She even tried to take off the Nightmare Gem, but it didn't seem to help much at all.

'Maybe I'll try listening to the music box again from now on.' She thought. 'Lucario did say it was how I stopped having nightmares before.'

Even so, she didn't feel tired at all now. She looked over at Quill's bed and noticed that he was gone too. Maybe she had been keeping him up, though the rest of the team seemed sound asleep. She and Quill probably weren't so tired anymore after sleeping for as long as they had.

Aamira got up after deciding to take a walk to pass the time. Outside she noticed that the Inn next to the Brigade's building had its lights on in one room. If she remembered correctly, that was the room that Vaporeon was staying in while her injuries healed.

The secretary at the front desk was either too tired to be very vigilant, or recognized Aamira right away, because she didn't ask Aamira why she was there so late at night or anything and just allowed her to continue up the stairs. As it turns out the light was coming from Vaporeon's room as she had suspected. She wasn't the only one there though. Along with Quill, Espeon, Flareon, and Leafeon were there too.

"Hey, what's going on?" Aamira asked.

"Oh, Aamira!" Espeon said with a smile. "It's good to see you again. Flareon sent a message to Sylva to let us know that Vaporeon had turned up. She didn't know that I had moved to Pacis, though, so Leafeon ran to find me on the way here."

"We would have been here sooner if not for that." Leafeon said. "You know, Espeon had to take the time to schedule a vacation and to find a substitute for her class. I sent a message to Jolteon and Glaceon too on the way here. They should be here soon. Maybe by tomorrow."

"Oh, so they'll miss the semifinals!" Quill said. "Oh well. They'll be here for the finals at least. No matter what happens tomorrow night, our team is guaranteed to be in the finals, so we technically get two chances to beat Hunter."

"That's true." Aamira said. "Wait, I don't think I've ever met Jolteon. I'm assuming that Jolteon is another sibling?"

"I was sort of hoping he wouldn't be here actually…" Espeon said in a whisper.

"Why not?" Aamira asked.

Leafeon tried to find the right words to say. "Well… You know Espeon is usually the sort who can get along with anyone. Her and Jolteon have personalities that are almost complete opposites though. They don't really fight when they get together, but Espeon tends to find him overly hyper and annoying and Jolteon thinks that Espeon is too uptight and doesn't know how to have fun."

"Well if you call fun picking a fight with everything that moves and staying up all night partying and keeping the neighbors awake…" Espeon was apparently annoyed just by thinking about Jolteon. "Don't get me wrong, when there's an all night party where the whole town is invited it's a lot of fun, but when some of us are trying to sleep…!"

Vaporeon laughed. "You haven't changed at all since I last saw you. I have to admit, though, out of all of us you could probably say that Jolteon is the coolest by far. There are just no other words to describe him, except strong. It's no wonder he decided to stay in Tempestas this whole time."

"Tempestas…" Aamira said under her breath. "So Jolteon's an electric type?"

"Well this is Espeon's brother we're talking about! He came to visit in Sylva back before you reappeared, but I didn't get to meet him personally." Quill said. "Either way I'm sure that he can't be all bad."

"I'll leave that to you to decide when you meet him." Espeon said. "So what are you two going to do today? The semifinals aren't until tonight. I'd understand if you'd want to rest a while longer, or maybe train some more."

"Resting would be nice." Aamira said. "I'm not really tired though. The thought of entering the semifinals sounds almost relaxing after everything we've been through in the past few days."

"I supposed I could understand that." Espeon said with an awkward smile. "Honestly, you two seem to get a little older every time I see you. Hopefully now there won't be too much left that would be trouble for you after what you've gone through."

"I really hope your right…" Quill was still a little shaken up over Rayquaza threatening to eat him, which he still wasn't entirely sure was a rouse.

"If you want my advice though," Espeon said, "I think the two of you should take a break. Enjoy the festival. It's only going to be around for a few more days after all."

The festival technically should have been over by now. By this point it was getting pretty far into spring, but it was extended due to the possibility of the island sinking. There were more people at the festival now than ever, mainly because a few pokemon had arrived from the mainland in an attempt to help rebuild. Now that everything had literally been fixed over night, it wasn't as if everyone was just going to pack up and leave. Aamira had stayed awake earlier just long enough to see all of the pokemon arriving by Wailord. Their numbers had been impressive and the city was already mostly rebuilt by the time her and Quill had gone to bed.

"Yea, maybe we'll do that." Aamira said. "I'd like to talk to Ninetales again too. Something a little troubling happened in Silex and I was wondering if she might have some answers about it…"

"You should both get some sleep." Vaporeon said. "Trust me, you may not feel tired, but once you get back to bed you'll be out of it in an instant."

Of course. Vaporeon had been through nearly as much as they had. She would know just how tired they really were. The two of them were just about to leave when Vaporeon stopped them. "Oh, I almost forgot. After I escaped, I went looking for you in Kingdra's forest. I broke her out of the ice and when we swapped information on what had happened, she asked me to freeze her again with another Ice Beam. When Slowking showed up to put her back to sleep, Kingdra broke out of the ice and knocked out Slowking. Kingdra dragged him back to Pearl while I swam back here to try to tell everyone what Slowking was planning. I didn't know what had happened after that, but this morning Kingdra sent a message via Wingull telling me that Slowking was arrested and that she had been officially placed in charge of the country."

"Well that's great!" Quill said. "After all that Slowking had done, Kingdra really deserves it. I hope she could adjust to the present world though since she's been asleep for who knows how long."

"Longer than you've been alive most likely." Flareon said. "Vaporeon was separated from us when we came here from Desolo and ended up in, Aequor but she had never heard of Kingdra until a few days ago. Aside from that, even back then the Coral Forest was pretty large. Most likely Kingdra was asleep for a long time before we even came to this world."

"It's kind of sad…" Aamira said. "Being asleep that whole time."

Vaporeon nodded. "According to Charmeleon though, Ignis had never had any issues with Aequor when a Kingdra was in charge. Hopefully that means that things will settle down now."

It was nice to get some good news for once. After talking for a few more minutes, Quill and Aamira eventually decided that they should better get back to bed. As soon as they did, as Vaporeon has said, they fell asleep right away. Aamira's nightmare was even a little less realistic than it had been earlier that night.

Aamira wandered through the festival trying her best to stay out of sight of anyone. It was strange, but even though she had participated in festivals before, this one suddenly seemed to be a little too much. Maybe their last adventure had affected her more than she thought. Had she, in all of the excitement, somehow forgotten how to enjoy herself? It was one thing to notice something like this happening gradually, but when it happened so suddenly and she could actually see how she herself had changed, it was different somehow.

Over in one direction was a Ludicolo who she recognized from Tempestas playing music with various other pokemon, including Nuzleaf from her own team. In another area were a Grumpig and a Medicham, most likely the ones from Rainbow Island, who were showing off their attacks in a sort of mock battle. The Medicham glanced at Aamira as she walked by. Nothing too unusual. Medicham were one of the few pokemon, like Riolu and Lucario, who could sense aura.

Everything seemed so exciting, but Aamira just couldn't will herself to join in. It seemed like she had been out casted by all of the people who had never experience the sort of things that she had. It was ridiculous, of course, and yet it was strange seeing all of these people go about their business without a care in the world. For a second Aamira wondered if maybe some of the pokemon had just come to help Ignis rebuild so they could get a free ride to the festival. Another ridiculous notion, considering that the festival hadn't even been announced to continue until after they had arrived and had started to work.

Aamira turned to walk in a different direction when she noticed Hunter hiding behind a stall that was selling exotic fruits. He seemed to have been staring at her for some reason. As soon as she walked towards him to ask what he had been doing, Quill suddenly appeared out of nowhere holding up a black and white berry.

"Hey Aamira, you've got to try this!" he said excitedly.

"What is it?" Aamira had never seen a berry like it before. The coloring somehow seemed unnatural. It didn't look nearly as appetizing as Quill apparently found it to be.

"It's called an Enigma Berry!" He pointed towards the fruit stand where Hunter had been hiding. "I bought it at the fruit stand over there."

Aamira looked at the fruit stand. Hunter had disappeared. She was sure that he had been staring at her though. What was it that he was up to?

"Hello?" Quill waved his hand in front of Aamira's face to get her attention. "Something wrong? You seem a little distracted."

Aamira forced a slight smile. "Oh no, it's nothing. So an Enigma Berry? Knowing the type of food you like, it would probably burn my mouth."

Quill took another bite from the berry. Calling it a berry seemed strange since it was nearly as big as Quill's head. The couple of bites he took from it didn't reduce the size by much. "You're probably right. If anything its a little dry too so it probably wouldn't be too overwhelming."

"Yea, maybe. But I think I'll pass."

"Are you… Are you sure you're alright?" Quill asked.

"Yea of course!" Aamira said. "Don't be silly; I'm fine!"

"Well if you said so…" Quill didn't seem too convinced, but he ran off to find the other members of their team.

Aamira continued to walk through the streets looking at various food stands and games. Every now and then she would stop to try some sort of candy or pastry that was being sold as a specialty for the tournament. There was a type of cookie in particular that she really liked that had lemon juice added to it. Apple pies were being sold near the stand with the cookies and she just couldn't resist buying a piece.

'It probably isn't a good idea to be filling up on sweets so close to the semifinals…' she suddenly realized after finishing off the bag of cookies. 'I suppose one day of sweets wouldn't be a big deal. I should get in some extra training later just in case though.'

She saw Hunter again an hour later. This time instead of following her, he was playing one of the games. It was somewhat surprising. Aamira didn't expect him to be the kind of person who would enjoy festival games. He was staring at a wheel attached to a cart obviously trying to make some difficult decision.

Aamira noticed that Espeon was standing some distance away with a money bag tied around her neck. It seemed about half empty, so she must have been enjoying herself.

"Your choice?" the Xatu behind the counter said.

Hunter was still considering the wheel on the front of the stand. "Star."

"And the player picks star!" Xatu waved his wings for emphasis. Some of the people in the crowd nearby murmured excitedly to one another.

Xatu pulled the lever behind the counter and Hunter watched the wheel intently as it started to spin. Eventually it started to slow down and Hunter tensed up. Apparently it was really close to landing on what he had picked. The wheel stopped and Hunter growled and walked away.

"Aww, better luck next time!" Xatu shouted after him.

"My turn!" Espeon ran up to the stand excitedly. Aamira couldn't help herself anymore. She had to see why this game was gathering such a crowd.

"Hey Espeon." She said. "What kind of game is this?"

"Oh, you've never played Lucky Chant before?" she asked. "I figured that you might have seen it by now. It's pretty popular."

"That it is!" Xatu said excitedly. "Let me explain the rules briefly for anyone in the audience who doesn't know them. On the table here next to the wheel are pictures of cards. The player needs to pick one of the pictures that they think the wheel will stop on. After that I pull this lever here to start the game. If it lands on a berry, TM, or seed, regardless of whether you chose that one or not, you get a random prize from those categories. If you chose a berry, TM, or seed and it lands on one of those cards, you get a really rare item from that category."

"Wow that's awesome." Aamira said. "So what about the other four cards?"

"The other four have lower odds. The gold Meowth's coin, also known as a Lucky Coin, will give you a chance to win a lesser golden item, the amazingly rare Wonder Gummi, or the lower money prize of 100,000 poke. The sun card will get you either a Sun Stone, Dawn Stone, or Sun Ribbon. The moon card will get you a Moon stone, Dusk Stone, or Lunar Ribbon. None of these prizes can be won unless you choose the card it lands on."

"What about the star?" Aamira asked.

"That's what you'd call the Critical Hit. The star has the lowest odds, but the best prizes. Again, you can only win the prizes if you call the star card. From the star card, you automatically win all of the prizes available for it, which include the jackpot prize of 500,000 poke, a rare Golden Mask, Golden Seed, and a deck of cards that you can use to play the home version of Lucky Chant!"

"So it looks like most of the medium difficulty cards are evolution items, the lower difficulty ones will get the player an item regardless, and the star gives the best possible prizes. It seems logical just to pick the star every time…"

"That's what you'd think, isn't it?" Espeon said with a mischievous smile and a swish of her tail. "Unfortunately, the odds for the star are terrible. The low difficulty ones each have two cards on the wheel, which makes the total number six. The medium difficulty cards each have one card, which makes the total three. The star also has one card, but since it's the only one of its difficulty then the total remains at one. So you'd have a one in ten chance to get the star. It doesn't sound bad at first, but each Lucky Chant wheel is different. You never know what order the cards are in, though the number always stays the same. It's amazing how much the order can affect the game. If I'm right the amount of time it takes for the wheel to stop spinning and the position of the cards most likely lowers the odds of getting the star even more."

"You sure know your Lucky Chant." Xatu said. "Alright, now that the basics are out of the way, would you like to try a game? It costs fifty poke per game."

"Pretty good considering some of the items." Espeon opened her bag and placed five silver poke coins on the counter. "Alright… I'll pick the Lucky Coin."

"Going for a medium one first." Xatu said. "Playing it safe, I see. The player picks the Lucky Coin!" Xatu pulled the lever and the wheel made a loud clicking sound as the cards spun past the spoke. It started to slow and came to a stop on the Lucky Coin. "AND WE HAVE A WINNER!"

Espeon shouted with excitement. "Okay, this is the part where the prize is picked. The prize depends on a second turn of the wheel. A lower card offers the lowest prize, a middle card offers a middle prize, and the star will get the highest prize."

Xatu winked. "This is the really fun part if you ask me." He pulled the lever and the wheel spun again. After a few seconds the wheel came to a stop on the TM. "Alright! You've won the Wonder Gummi!"

Espeon shouted again as she accepted the item from Xatu and placed the Gummi in her bag.

"Would you like to play again?" Xatu asked.

"Oh why not." Espeon handed him another five silver coins. "I choose berry this time."

"You're choosing a lower ranked item this time? Well, that's your choice, I suppose. The player picks the Berry!" Xatu pulled the lever again and the wheel spun, landing on the berry. "I don't believe it! Two wins in a row!" Xatu spun the wheel again to choose a prize. The wheel stopped on the Moon card. "Alright. You get a berry that lowers super effective attacks. For an Espeon, your prize will be the Colbur Berry."

Espeon took the berry and put it in her bag along with the gummi. She didn't look as happy this time. "Colbur Berries are great for battles for psychic types, but they're terribly bitter and sour. Not to mention the hard skin around it and the tiny bristles that constantly get stuck in my fur. Still I bet Cherrim would love the seeds and it would make a great demo for class."

"Care to play again?" Xatu asked, sounding a little nervous.

"No, I think I'm done." Espeon said. "What about you, Aamira?"

"Sure, I guess I'll play a game." Aamira dug out five silver coins from her money bag and placed them on the counter. Aamira stepped up to the stand and stared at the wheel. She realized almost instantly what had happened. "Why not; I'll take a risk. I choose the Star."

"Are you serious!" Xatu said. "This is your first time playing, isn't it? You're not secretly an expert at this game, are you?"

"Not that I know of." Aamira said. "This is the first time I've played, but I think I understand the gist of it."

There were a few excited murmurs in the crowd. Aamira guessed that it must have been Hunter's first time playing too, though he had at least spent some time thinking about it before choosing.

"Alright, if you insist. It's your poke. The player picks the Star!" Xatu pulled on the lever. Aamira watched the wheel and was surprised to find that her pulse had actually quickened. Could she really be so excited from playing a game? Xatu gave an awkward squawk as the wheel slowed and landed on the Star. "I DON'T BELIEVE IT! THE PLAYER WINS THE JACKPOT!"

Aamira couldn't help herself. She cheered, as did a few other people in the crowd. Xatu sighed and handed Aamira a bag filled with 500 Platinum coins, the Golden Mask, which had been hanging up as a display, a Golden Seed, and the deck of cards.

"I don't suppose you'd want to play again…" Xatu almost sounded like he was about to cry.

"No, I think I'm good." Aamira picked up the prizes and put them in her bag. "It was a lot of fun though."

Xatu sighed. "Always willing to please a customer! Come back soon! Just not too soon…"

A few people laughed and Aamira and Espeon walked away.

"That was a pretty lucky first time." Espeon said as they walked.

"Was it?" Aamira asked. "I feel like I should be thanking you."

"Oh, saw through me, did you? I had a feeling that your eyes would be able to pick up the speed of the wheel and the order of the cards easily enough. I had to watch a few other people before getting the basic statistics, but you only had to see me play two games to pick it up."

"Even having the statistics for it memorized, it's still not exact. A lot of it is still random to a point. How did you know for sure it would land on a Star when I played?"

"The odds for the Star on that particular wheel were best after landing on the Moon card. If you want to know a secret though, we Espeon actually have lesser psychic abilities."

"Lesser?" Aamira asked.

"The other kind of psychic. Meaning I can read the future. Only up to a minute into the future though and only in the immediate area. So if you were going to head off to a far away dungeon then I would have no way of knowing what you would find upon getting there due to the time and distance. Xatu have psychic abilities too. Theirs are a little greater, but it requires immense focus and works best after staring into the sun for an entire day."

"So you're the sun pokemon and Xatu stare into the sun to read the future…" Aamira said.

Espeon laughed. "Funny how thins work, isn't it? But what would you expect? The sun does provide a large portion of the energy in the world. Looking at the sun itself due to the distance would be the same as staring at it the way it was eight minutes into the past. Of course it would be attributed to certain special abilities. Same with the moon. It's for these reasons, in fact, that the Aura Readers symbol is the sun and moon. There are other reasons, of course, but this one is one of the greater reasons."

"Sounds like you've done a lot of research on it."

"Well it is my job."

Aamira pulled the Golden mask out of her bag. She realized a problem with it right away. The face was slanted and wouldn't provide a good fit for the shape of her face due to the nose. The same problem would apply to Quill. They most likely wouldn't be able to use it. "Hey Espeon, would you want this? You could show it off to your class or donate it to the museum in Sylva."

Espeon took the mask and put it over her face. How well it fit her doubled with the design on the face was creepy. It looked almost as if Espeon's face were meant to look like that. "Fits well, don't you think?"

"It looks great." Aamira said truthfully. She couldn't explain it, but she really did look as if she were meant to wear that mask.

"I suppose I could hold on to it for now. Normally any team who manages to get their paws on such a rare item would automatically become more popular. New members would want to join constantly. I doubt you two really need help with that though, do you?"

"No, I guess we wouldn't." Aamira said.

"Alright, I'll keep it. Could be useful if I ever decide to form an Investigation Team of my own."

Aamira looked up at the sky. The sun was starting to set. The semifinals would be starting soon, so if she was ever going to get any practice in, it would have to be now. "I should get going. If you run into Quill could you let him know I'll be training outside the northern edge of town near the volcano?"

"Sure thing." Espeon said. "Brighteyes."

Aamira had turned around and had started to walk away, but stopped suddenly and turned back to Espeon. "What did you say?"

"Brighteyes?" Espeon said. "Not sure. I just thought it would be a good nickname for you. You have really good eyes after all. Brighter than any other Riolu's both in color and intellect. 'Aamira Brighteyes'. You have to admit it has a good ring to it.

"Yea… I guess it does." Aamira said uncertainly.

"Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no. Of course not!" Aamira replied hastily. "I'm wasting time though; I really should get to training."

"Ah, of course." Espeon nodded, still wearing the Golden Mask which made it look somewhat creepy. "I'll be watching the match along with all of your aunts. We'll be rooting for the two of you."

The sun seemed to set faster than it should have. Before Aamira knew how much time had passed, she was standing in the stadium with Quill and hunter. The stadium looked even more impressive than before. To make up for the greater number of people there, the seats had been extended to make more room to sit. A few perches were added to the top for flying types to sit at. With their sharper eyes, they would have an easy time seeing from up there and it would empty up even more seats in the stands.

Aamira stared up at the top of the stadium and noticed Togekiss sitting up there. She did a double take when she noticed a Honchkrow sitting on one of the perches also, but relaxed when she noticed that this one was a female, obviously not the one that they knew personally.

Up in the Elder's box, she noticed Kingdra floating in the air next to Charmeleon. They seemed to have been getting along well enough at least. With Kingdra, Fearow, Lapras, and Altaria present, she realized that there were finally a good number of elders who were actually present.

"So for the second time, welcome to the semifinal match of the Investigator's Trilogy." Charmeleon shouted over the cheers from the crowd. "The semifinals will be a three way battle between Aamira from Team Sleuth, Quill, also from Team Sleuth, and the exhibition match winner, Hunter! The first to be knocked out will be eliminated from the tournament and the last two standing will be the ones to proceed to the finals!"

The crowd cheered even louder at the mention of the finals, which would be the following night. Finally the tournament was coming to an end. "Alright, this battle has been stalled long enough! Let the Semifinals begin!"

Aamira and Quill ran off in opposite directions as they had planned. Hunter still hadn't moved at all. Aamira attacked from one side with Aura Sphere and Quill attacked from the other with Flamethrower. Hunter moved so fast that it almost looked as if he had disappeared at first. Aamira and Quill dodged to the side so that their attacks wouldn't hit each other.

Hunter suddenly appeared behind Aamira. She turned and caught his leg just as he was about to kick her in the back. He seemed surprised for a moment, but turned in the air and managed to get free. He acted like he was about to kick again, but Aamira noticed his shoulder twitch slightly just as he changed his attack to a chop, which she was easily able to block.

'I really can see it…' she thought. 'Maybe Espeon was right about my eyes.'

Aamira noticed the ground move slightly below their feet and jumped out of the way as Quill dug up and attacked Hunter with Flame Wheel. Hunter stopped the attack by catching Quill with his paw. His fur barely even looked singed. Hunter threw Quill back and attacked both of them again.

The audience was apparently getting tired of seeing Hunter use nothing but basic martial arts moves to defeat his opponents. Though most of the audience was counting on Quill and Aamira to win, hardly anyone believed they could. If hunter did decide to use some actual attacks, they probably wouldn't stand a chance. Of course they didn't know that Hunter was afraid to use his attacks. At this point it was the only thing that gave Aamira and Quill a chance of beating them.

Half an hour passed and still they weren't able to get the advantage over Hunter. After a while it became obvious to him that Aamira was somehow able to read his movements, so he started relying more on speed and would back off as soon as a situation got too risky. As strong as Hunter was, he still had to be careful since he was at a type disadvantage against both Aamira and Quill.

They continued their tactic where Aamira would fight him close up and Quill would dig around them in an attempt to catch Hunter with his guard down and attack with a long range attack. A strategy loosely based off of Crawdaunt and Croconaw's but an effective one for sure. Even so Hunter was managing to dodge all of their attacks with only a minor amount of difficulty.

As soon as Aamira started to tire out, Hunter took notice and took advantage of the opportunity to knock her away. Aamira had seen it coming, but was too tired to react to it in time.

With Aamira out of the way, Quill realized that Hunter had left himself open to an attack. Quill used the strongest Eruption that he could manage. At first it looked like the attack would land; Hunter had only enough time to turn to see the attack heading in his direction. Just before it landed, he took a step back and raised a paw. The attack stopped in mid air and he sent it flying back towards Quill. Quill was just barely able to dodge by burrowing under the ground.

They realized that things were starting to get serious. Hunter had just used Psychic, which meant that he wasn't entirely afraid to use his attacks against them. Aamira stood up and attacked with Aura Sphere. Hunter turned in her direction and used his own Aura Sphere, which was infused with his dark aura. They met in the air and after a minute of being stopped completely, Hunter's attack cut right through Aamira's and she just barely had enough time to stop it with Force Palm, though it still did a lot of damage.

'So that's the sort of power his dark aura has?' Aamira thought. 'I know we battled once before, but he had been going easy on me then and had still won. Is he finally fighting with his full strength?' She guessed he wasn't because he remained nearly completely still throughout the battle. What could they do about it though?

Aamira felt a small flicker of Quill's emotions and in that brief moment an idea passed between them that might work. Aamira used Aura Sphere again with the same result. Hunter looked somewhat bored from the repeated attack. She tried it a third time and while the attacks were stalled, she ran around to his side. He tried to attack with Shadow Ball, which was much easier to dodge than Aura Sphere.

Quill jumped up from the ground to her left and used Flamethrower at the same time she used Aura Sphere. Their combined attack flew towards Hunter. He countered with his own Aura Sphere and the two attacks collided in mid air and faded away.

"I don't believe it!" Quill said. "Our combined attack only did enough to match his!"

"I'd hate to say it, but we're in a bad position right now." Aamira said while keeping her eyes on Hunter. His aura seemed to be trying to push him forward as if it was itching for a fight and he was fighting against it as much as he could.

Quill hesitated for a moment. "You have dark aura too though… If you could combine it with your Aura Sphere and my Flamethrower…"

"I get it, but it's not as if I really know how to do it!"

"Because you never practice with your dark aura! If you practiced like Ruko said then you wouldn't have to worry about something like what happened on the Celestial Tower ever again."

Hunter couldn't hold himself back anymore apparently. Aamira sensed his aura as a sudden pulse that seemed to travel through the air as he gave up trying to hold it back. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed few pokemon in the stands flinch back from sensing it too. Quill reacted to it too, even though he wasn't as sensitive as she was to aura.

Hunter ran towards Quill and started attacking him with his regular martial arts attacks again. Maybe he was still trying to hold himself back to some extent, but his attacks were still doing a lot of damage.

'Alright, I'll give it a shot…' The truth was that Aamira had been practicing with her dark aura, but maybe because she was afraid of it, it hadn't been working right. This time would be different though. Quill needed her help. Hunter's attacks were coming too quickly for him to defend himself or counterattack.

Aamira tried to focus and managed to make her Aura Sphere turn dark and attacked Hunter. Hunter turned to the sound of it cutting through the air just in time to be hit by it and thrown back. He landed on the ground and struggled to stand up for a moment. The look in his eyes was suddenly murderous. Aamira now understood how she must have looked back at the Celestial Tower.

Hunter ran towards her with a speed she doubted anyone else would have been able to follow it, but she was able to keep track of his movements for every step. Aamira ran towards him and attacked with a series of Force Palms to match his martial arts moves. His speed was almost impossible to get by, but she managed, with some difficulty, to block most of his attacks, though she couldn't get an opening to counter attack.

Quill attack from behind Aamira with Flame Wheel and Aamira ducked just in time so that she wasn't hit but Hunter couldn't avoid the attack. They had gotten used to stunts like this since Aamira could sense Quill's aura and knew him well enough to know how he would attack without him needing to tell her. But still, that attack would have knocked her unconscious if she hadn't ducked in time! What was he thinking!

No, it was just her aura telling her that. They had practiced that move especially for their battle with hunter. If she didn't try to hold herself together, she had no doubt that this would turn into a repeat of Celestial Tower.

"Are you alright…?" Quill asked Aamira nervously. She had apparently been glaring at him without noticing. "I know you won't hurt me, right? Even if you couldn't control your aura, you wouldn't hurt me. Are you still there?"

"Y-Yea…" Aamira finally managed to say. She hadn't imagined that this would be so difficult. Like before her vision had somehow darkened and she could only manage to focus on a single person who she wanted to attack. With some difficulty she managed to turn her attention back towards Hunter.

Quill smiled and turned back towards hunter. "I knew you would be okay! Now let's try that combo."

Hunter stood up again. His aura was radiating from him in a way that the air shimmered almost as if from heat waves. A few people in the stands had become restless. Some retreated up the aisles to get as far away from Hunter as possible. Judging by the sudden blank look in his eyes, Aamira guessed that he had completely lost control at this point.

Quill flared up his back and Aamira formed her Aura Sphere. Their attacks combined in the air and Quill's flames, as soon as they came in contact with Aamira's Aura Sphere, suddenly turned purple and black. Hunter raised a paw and at first it seemed that he would be able to stop their attack. While he didn't fall this time, the attack did manage to push him back a few yards before fading. His arm was badly burned and he had taken a lot of damage from the combined fire and fighting type attacks, but he didn't even seem to notice.

"Are you done yet?" He asked in a voice that made Aamira flinch. It was almost the same as how she had sounded when she spoke at the tower. The Hunter they knew suddenly seemed like an innocent child compared to this one. "If you're done playing around, can I show you my attack now?"

At first it looked like he was going to use Aura Sphere again, but the attack looked different. It seemed familiar to Aamira, though she couldn't remember it at first. Then it hit her. It was the same move that she had begged Lucario never to use again, even though it meant that they might not have defeated Mismagius. An attack fueled by negative thoughts, emotions, and a desire for revenge.

Hunter attacked with Dark Pulse and all Aamira could manage to do was stand there frozen in fear. Every instinct that she had, even the ones she didn't know, were screaming at her to get out of the way. Before she had the chance to really comprehend what has happening, the attack hit. Only it didn't hit her. Quill jumped in front of Aamira at the last second and took the attack himself.

Quill was laying on the ground, still conscious but just barely. Typhlosion ran over to check if he was still able to fight. Since he hadn't lost consciousness yet and was just barely able to stand back up, he had no choice but to let the battle continue even though he seemed willing to give just about anything to end it.

Aamira was shaking with anger. That attack had been directed at her, which had made it so strong. Even so, Hunter had hurt Quill and she wasn't about to let that go.

"Sorry about that." he said to Aamira. "I promise this one won't miss."

He used Dark Pulse a second time. This time Aamira managed to stay focused long enough to attack with Sucker Punch. Her attack collided with Hunter's and flew towards him. Unlike the other times though, some of her own energy had been pushed back by Hunter's. Her attack seemed to work half the way it was supposed to and half the opposite of the way it was supposed to.

Both of them were knocked back by a combined attack of Dark Pulse and Sucker Punch. Aamira's vision blurred as she hit the ground. She could tell that at that moment she was still conscious. It was amazing how much she could think in that brief second that she remained conscious.

Aamira woke up some time later back in their room at the Brigade's building. A few people were standing around her including Espeon and her siblings, Quill and the rest of her team, Typhlosion, Charmeleon, Chansey and Ruko.

"Hey she's awake!" Quill said. "About time too. The battle ended before midnight and it's almost noon now."

"Are you serious?" Aamira was only slightly surprised that the tone in her voice still sounded a lot like how it had before, though it had mostly gone back to normal. She probably sounded more mad than she meant to sound though. "What happened with the battle? Who lost consciousness first?"

"It was hard to call." Typhlosion said. "Quill held on long enough to keep the battle going for you, but finally lost consciousness around the same time you did. If not for Hunter, it would have been close to impossible to know for sure."

"What happened with him?" Aamira asked.

"He seemed to snap out of whatever sort of trance he was in and put a paw over his purple eye as if it hurt him. He manage to stand back up and ran out of the stadium before I called the match so he was automatically disqualified."

"So you can't really say we won…" Quill said. "Hunter knocked us both out, but by the rule book we still manage to win the round. You know what that means don't you? You're finally going to give me the battle you promised!"

"It's a great victory for Sylva." Leafeon said. "After all, even if Aamira does win the tournament, we can't be hosting the next one in Atra, so it would have to go to Sylva by default."

"How about a history lesson?" Espeon said. "Sylva won the very first tournament that was hosted in Incendia Anhelo. The next year the tournament was held in Sylva, but Tempestas managed to win. In all of that time, Sylva never won another tournament. Noctowl will be so happy to hear this!"

Aamira smiled weakly. "So we finally managed to do something like this? Even so we still have a lot of training to do. Be honest though; how badly am I hurt?"

"Pretty badly." Ruko said. "Maybe not physically, but don't be surprised if you can't use your aura for a while. What happened back there was a rebound. I expected it to happen to Hunter, but for the two of you your auras apparently don't mix well. When they combined they both rebounded at the same time, something I never expected to happen. Even so, you seem to be better at controlling your aura now. I would advise not using it to fight Hunter again. Not that you would have to."

Aamira remembered what Ruko had said. As soon as Hunter was done with the tournament, the two of them would be leaving and they would most likely never see Aamira again. Did that mean they were returning to their own time? What else could it mean?

"Either way you should probably have a look at yourself." Chansey said. "I'm not sure whether or not I should be worried by this."

Chansey held up a mirror and Aamira nearly attacked the mirror out of some sort of reflex of seeing those eyes. One of her eyes had turned purple so that they were red and purple like Hunter's. What Espeon had said about her eyes and what the older Lucario had said in her vision suddenly made sense. Aamira Brighteyes suddenly seemed like a perfectly fitting name.

"It shouldn't be a big problem." Ruko assured her. "Once the color fades back to red, you should be able to use your attacks again. I would suggest you meditate for a while to help it along in time for the finals. Now I believe it's time I got going. Hunter is probably still hiding up near the volcano's rim, trying to recover from the injuries and damage to his pride."

"Hold on." Aamira said. She didn't want to see Ruko leave again, though she knew he had to. "Before you go, what connection do you have with Hunter anyway?"

"Haven't figured it out yet?" he asked. "I've left you with quite a few clues."

Now that Aamira thought about it, he had said some strange stuff before and had seemed strangely protective of Hunter. It seemed obvious now that she really gave it some thought. "You're his teacher… and… his grandpa?"

Ruko nodded. "Believe me; he was a good kid growing up. Some unfortunate circumstances led him to be the way he was, some of which were my own fault."

"Do some of those circumstances have to do with me?" Aamira knew it was true before she said anything.

"Possibly, but it's not my place to say. If he wanted you to know, he would have told you. Anything else before I leave?"

"What do we do next…?" Aamira asked uncertainly.

"Do whatever you want. It's your decision. I can offer some advice on which way to start though: two." Ruko turned and walked out of the room.

"Two?" Quill said. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe that we have to work together?" Aamira suggested. "But we knew that already. And why not just say so?"

"There's something else you should probably know…" Charmeleon said. "My Team Blazer… Our team disbanded."

"What!" the two of them shouted at once.

"We had no choice." Typhlosion said. "Sorry for keeping it from you, Quill, but we wanted to wait until Aamira regained consciousness before saying anything."

"My dad—" it was the first time they had ever seen Charmeleon so choked up before. "Well, first off, Raichu showed up. He attacked us, I guess, to buy time."

"You must be joking…" Aamira said.

"While that was going on, my dad vanished." He continued. "Rhyperior found traces of melted rock from his Flamethrower leading across other islands. The trail ended on the edge of Charcoal Town where they found that many of the trees in the nearby forest had large gouges in them from his claws and some completely burned down in places. Along the trail and especially in the forest, they also found lots of blue and white feathers."

"Altaria!" Quill yelled. "What happened to her?"

"We're not sure entirely." Typhlosion said. "Based on the evidence though, it seems that Charizard attacked her and chased her through the air across the islands. She most likely crash landed in the forest and was cornered and kidnapped by Charizard."

"I can't believe he would do such a thing…" Aamira said. "Why would he?"

"There was a black feather back at his house that matched Honchkrow's." Charmeleon said. "I noticed that after Rayquaza left, he seemed to start acting almost normal again. I'd hate to say it, my dad was always the nicest pokemon, but I think Honchkrow might have turned him to his side. By the time Jolteon chased of Raichu, Charizard was already gone without a trace left of where he could have disappeared to."

"If only I had been there sooner…" Aamira noticed the spikey yellow and white pokemon for the first time. This she assumed was Jolteon. "Quite the humbling experience, for sure. I just barely managed to chase Raichu off and that was only after Charmeleon had done a good amount of damage."

"It's not your fault…" Espeon said. She seemed genuinely concerned for her brother even though she had spoken so badly of him before. "There are a lot of Investigation Teams who wouldn't have been able to do half as well as you did."

"Investigation Team, huh?" Jolteon said. "Now that you mention it, you might be on to something. Hey, Vaporeon?"

Vaporeon stood up a little straighter after her name was mentioned. She had been quietly listening to the conversation and hadn't expected to be called on for anything. "Yea, what is it?"

"You seem as strong as ever. Are you really going to continue your job as an ambassador for Aequor though?"

"I wasn't planning on it…" she admitted.

"Raichu would have a type advantage against you, but I know how strong you were in spite of being the last of us to evolve. I understand that everyone else would be too busy, so would you like to form an Investigation Team with me?"

"I would love to!" Vaporeon seemed relieved to finally find a way to be of some assistance. "So what do you think we should call the team then?"

"I never thought of forming a team before now." Jolteon admitted. "It should be a combination of something from both of us."

"Like Team Thunderstream?" Vaporeon asked.

"Yes, it's perfect!" Jolteon said. "Team Thunderstream! I like the sound of that."

Aamira smiled and laid back on the bed. She realized that there were a lot of different teams that formed for a lot of different reasons. She had been somewhat forced into forming a team with Quill, but she didn't care anymore. She hadn't cared for a while. Whatever reason they had met, if there had been some cosmic meeting in it, Aamira was sure that they could pull off whatever it was that they were meant to do. Especially since, she now realized, it was her connection with Quill that let her control her aura the way she had. They could get strong enough to defeat anyone if they kept working together. But first they would have to fight each other. After all, the finals were only a few hours away.


	46. Chapter 46 Silverlight Islands

Aamira sat alone with Roy at the back of one of the empty stadium boxes. The sun was setting and already people were flooding into the stadium. Even though the final match would be starting soon, Aamira couldn't just leave him alone like this. Not after what had happened.

"It's not your fault." Aamira said.

Roy was shaking and somewhat hunched over with his hands on his knees. He had been like this for over an hour now. "It is my fault. If I had just paid more attention then maybe… If I had just known the truth…"

"You've got to get a hold of yourself! No one blames you for what happened. It's because of Honchkrow!"

"That's not true!" he snapped at her. "It is my fault. I'm not afraid to take responsibility for it… I've caused you and Quill a lot of trouble. You have to believe me, I'm so sorry for what I did and I can't stand the thought of you wasting your pity on me!"

Aamira sighed. Roy hadn't done anything, and yet Aamira couldn't convince him no matter how hard she tried that what had happened hadn't been his fault. If she thought about it, maybe she would have reacted if the same thing had happened to her.

Roy turned towards the window, which Aamira figured was more to keep from looking at her than to look out at the stadium. "Shouldn't you be going? The match will be starting soon. I'm sure that Quill's probably down there waiting for you."

Roy's words struck her more than she thought was possible. If anyone else had been listening, they wouldn't have caught what he really had meant by that, unless they had also been there at the time. Who could have thought that a day that had started so well would turn so terrible?

Only that same morning, Aamira had been sitting near the bluffs on the northern edge of the island watching the sea. The weather was bright, sunny, and extremely pleasant. Jolteon and Vaporeon had registered their team almost immediately after taking the test that Ignis required to form an Investigation Team. Both of them had done well, above average, in fact, and now Team Thunderstream was off on their very first mission. If it was anything like Aamira's first mission, they wouldn't forget it any time soon.

After all of the excitement in their battle against Hunter, Aamira felt unusually calm staring out at the sea. Kyogre left large wakes in the water as it swam around just beneath the surface. Both Kyogre and Groudon had emerged from their territories on a few occasions since Rayquaza destroyed their treasures. They were hardly ever out at the same time, but whenever they were they would normally get as close as they could without invading the other's territory and they would talk in the grunts and growls that made up the language that Aamira couldn't even begin to understand. They seemed to be getting along well then, but now there was definitely something weird about Kyogre.

"Entranced by the waves, are we?"

Aamira jumped and turned to see Dragonite smiling down at her. "Oh, you startled me."

"Still a little jumpy, I see." He sat down next to her. "I've missed the ocean. It's said to be the ancestral home of the Dragonite, you know."

"Really?" Aamira asked. "How long has it been since you've seen the ocean?"

"Not that long, I guess. I came here a while ago to watch my sister's battle, but had to leave soon after. Before that the last time would have been shortly after you showed up and I had to come here to meet with the Elders. Obviously not much of a vacation. Either way, I'll be stuck here for a while now, at least until Leafeon and Espeon decide that they're ready to go back. Might as well enjoy it."

Aamira watched as Kyogre leapt a few feet out of the water and dove deep below the surface. She knew that the dungeon leading to Kyogre's home was somewhere down there, but she didn't think that it was going back. It had been doing this all morning now. Sure enough, a while later, Kyogre resurfaced and continued swimming in large circles around certain spots in the ocean.

"She looks agitated by something…" Dragonite said absentmindedly.

"She?" Aamira said.

"Hard to tell, like with most legendaries, but I think so. Still, I wonder what it could be. If there was someone intruding on her territory, I'm sure Kyogre would have no problem throwing them out. I wonder what it could be…"

Aamira got up and stretched. "Well, it doesn't seem like something that's too serious. If it was then I'm sure that Kyogre would be more than a little agitated. I promised Quill and Espeon that I'd meet them later to watch Beautifly and Wurmple's new play."

"Oh they're here too, are they?" Dragonite said. "I haven't seen them a in a while. What are they doing this time?"

"Some sort of comedy routine, I think. Either way, I'm not entirely sure I'd want to go…"

Dragonite smirked. "Nervous about braving the crowds again, Aamira Brighteyes?"

Aamira smiled awkwardly. The name had surprisingly grown in popularity. Of course people were bound to notice that something was a little odd about their battle with Hunter, but ever since then, Quill and Aamira could hardly keep the fans and press away. Aamira got the worst of it, most likely because of the new nickname Espeon had given her, though possibly also because her eyes still hadn't gone back to normal. On the bright side this at least gave Quill more of an opportunity to walk around without being swarmed by large groups of people.

She looked in a puddle near the edge of the bluff, hoping perhaps it had changed in the last two minutes since she had looked. Unfortunately she still had the one red and one purple eye. "Yea, well I guess it's time I got going. It would be starting soon whether I'm there or not."

Dragonite nodded. "I think I'll stay here. They usually do one play more than once; I'll just see it the next time they come to Sylva."

"How are things there anyway?" Aamira asked. "Team Overgrow mentioned there being some sort of trouble there."

"Oh it passed." Judging by the tone of his voice, he seemed pretty sure about it. "It was no big deal; happens every few years actually. The tribe that lives in the deepest most eastern part of the forest got us caught up in a dispute. I managed to talk some sense into them with the help of a couple Investigation Teams. No one hardly ever sees them except on occasions like this. Odds are they won't be showing up in Vine City again for a long time."

"Well that's good to hear I guess." Aamira said. "They're not dangerous, are they?" 

"They could be if you let them. Ah, it's not really important. Best not to think of such things. Its silly superstitions and such; nothing to worry much about really. They're just such an elusive tribe so you'd expect such rumors to start spreading because of it. They say that just saying their name is a cause of bad luck."

"Oh really?" Aamira said skeptically. "Well as you said, it's to be expected with something so elusive, I guess. Well, I guess I had better get going then."

Dragonite nodded. "Have fun. Don't hurt the fans."

Aamira laughed and headed back to the festival.

On the way there she heard some shouts off in the distance. After a while Roy and Sandshrew came into view. The shouts had stopped, but they were both facing away from each other. Obviously they had just been in a pretty bad fight.

"Hey, what's going on, you two?" Aamira asked.

"I have to go. You know, Eevee? Sick pokemon? I'll see you later." Sandshrew said hastily before rushing off.

Roy sighed. "He's so stubborn!"

"What is it this time?" Aamira asked.

"I don't even know anymore…" Roy said. "It seems like lately all we've been doing is arguing. One of us will say one thing, the other will say something else. It eventually leads to Sandshrew's eyes and then suddenly everything falls apart. I don't understand it myself, honestly. It used to be that we always knew what the other was thinking. Now I'm wondering if Team Sandstone will survive a full year."

"Hey don't think like that. I'm sure it will pass." Aamira said. "I think he's a little sensitive about his eyes because everyone started looking at him differently after finding out about him being blind. His other senses are unbelievable though. Most pokemon would give just about anything to have senses like his. Its no wonder your team is so good with investigations with him around."

"That's what I keep telling him." Roy said. "I really don't get it… I've never looked at him any differently than I normally do, I don't think. I just don't know… Oh, you're going to the theater, right?" Aamira nodded. "We were on our way there too when this happened. I think I'll go talk to him some more. After we catch up maybe we could all watch the play together."

"Yea, that should be fun. More fun than most of what's happened around here lately anyway."

The theater was more of an open stage outside in the center of town. People were crowding around from all sides. No doubt Wurmple and Beautifly would have to do their best to make the play enjoyable from all sides, not just the front. It was like a play in three dimensions.

Aamira found Quill and Espeon near the front of the crowed with Grovyle and Aerodactyl from Team Jurassic. They had been one of the teams helping to protect everyone when the volcano had first erupted, but they hadn't gotten to know each other very well. She was about to join in the conversation, but the play started almost as soon as she got there.

Aamira was surprised to see that she actually got a lot of the jokes. There were still a few that Quill had to explain to her, but it was obvious that she had really grown used to living in this world.

Roy finally showed up with Sandshrew just as intermission started.

"Aww we missed the first half!" Roy said.

"I'm sorry…" Sandshrew said. "If I hadn't started that argument then we would have gotten here sooner…"

"Nah, it's fine." Roy said. "We can always see the first part again when they go on tour with it."

Intermission didn't last very long at least. As Wurmple walked onto the stage though, something strange happened. Roy and Aerodactyl both looked down at the pendants they wore at the same time.

"What is it?" Aamira asked.

Roy kept staring at his for a second longer. "I'm not sure… No, I must have imagined it. It's nothing."

"Are you sure?" Aerodactyl was seemingly already acquainted with Roy. "I thought that mine had… No, you're probably right."

Aamira suddenly realized why Aerodactyl looked so familiar. She had been in the book that Ninetales had made of the pokemon kidnapped by Mismagius. That explained why they seemed to know each other at least. Neither of them seemed bothered by what they both thought their pendants had done, so they went back to watching the play.

Aamira stretched her arms out at the end of the play. "I like plays, but standing in one position for so long makes my muscles stiff…"

"Yea, I know what you mean." Quill stretched too, making small sparks flare up on his back.

"Well this was fun." Espeon said. "I think I'll go play some more Lucky Chant before Xatu bans me from it. Care to join me?"

"Sure, why not?" Quill said.

"Not me." Aamira said. "I need to go do some training or something or my muscles will be stiff all day."

"Alright then." Espeon said. "Come join us later if you want. We'll be around here somewhere."

Aamira turned to leave and noticed Roy standing apart from the crowd near the edge of the square. He was still looking at his Sapphire pendant. Maybe something was bothering him about it after all.

Aamira decided to ask him about it. If both Roy and Aerodactyl reacted the same way at the same time, there had to be something going on.

"Is something wrong?" Aamira asked.

Roy jumped and looked up at her. "Oh, you startled me… I'm not too sure, really… For a second there I thought for sure I saw the faintest glow coming from it…"

"A glow? Where did you get a pendant like that, anyway?"

"I told you didn't I? When we first met? I've had it since my parents died. It was my mother's treasure."

"Oh, that's right." Aamira said. "It's been so long ago I guess I forgot. What happened to your parents anyway? That is, if you want to say…"

Roy shook his head. "No, it's fine, really. It's not like I really knew them. Died before I even hatched apparently. I don't know about my dad, but apparently the Kangaskhan who raised me found my mom badly injured in the forest. They knew they couldn't save her, so they agreed to raise the egg that she had been protecting all of that time and to give the Riolu that hatched from it her pendant. Apparently they didn't even think I would hatch though. It must have been obvious to them that my egg was already pretty old, but I didn't hatch for months after that either. They kept me anyway because of their promise."

"So what made you hatch eventually?"

"I'm not sure." Roy said. "It was a couple of years after they first got me. A lot of the Kangaskhan had given up on me, but my foster mom still kept me in her pouch. Actually, now that I think about it, I think they found Sandshrew's egg right before I hatched. Kind of mysterious if you think about it…"

"There are a lot of mysteries in the world." Aamira agreed. "So what about Sandshrew?"

"I don't know about him, actually." Roy said. "Apparently a Furret was on her way to visit her sister Sentret in Sylva and happened to be passing through when she found him. She looked for the parents, but there aren't any other Sandshrew or Sandslash living in that area, so she gave the egg to the Kangaskhan when they met each other. She said she would have raised it herself if she didn't have her own eggs and adopted son to watch after. Apparently Sneasel were becoming more abundant in her territory too, so she thought it would be safer to leave it with my mom than to carry it all the way back home. They didn't think Sandshrew would hatch either. His egg had a large crack in it, but they thought that it probably wasn't bad enough to kill a Sandshrew. They think that maybe a bird pokemon picked up his egg in Silex and carried it all the way to where we lived before dropping it. It might also be what caused his blindness."

"And of course you hatched immediately after…" Aamira said. "So neither of you have ever tried to find out who your parents were?"

"I've tried to find out about my parents, but that was right around the time when Lucario and Riolu had started to grow scarce, so no one had any information. For all I know, my real mom could have saved me from Mismagius. Sandshrew on the other hand… well we actually did find the colony where his egg came from a while back in Silex. They didn't want to take him back though because of his eyes and the scents of various other species of pokemon that were overpowering his own scent. Come to think of it, that might have been around the time he started to get sensitive about any mention of his eyes."

"That makes sense…" Aamira stopped. "Where are we?" they had started walking together some time ago without either of them realizing it. Now they were somewhere on the opposite side of the volcano from the town.

"I'm not really sure…"

They heard a banging sound in the distance and decided to go check it out. They found a small hut near the base of the volcano. To one side of it was a large garden filled with a large variety of berries and other plants. Chansey was standing off to the side as a Rampardos hit the side of the volcano, making a few small rocks fall from it. A Bastiodon blocked the falling rocks with his head.

"That looks good, you two!" They looked up to see Aerodactyl flying above them. "I don't think any of the smaller rocks flying into the air will be a problem now. We have to take care of the main problem before it takes care of itself."

"Yes, ma'am!" they both said at once. The Bastiodon and Rampardos traded places. Rampardos stood at the edge of the garden, swinging his tail excitedly.

Bastiodon walked up to the side of the volcano and hit his head against it experimentally. "Here?"

Aerodactyl flew farther to the north and started to circle above them. "No, more too the left."

Bastiodon moved to the left and placed his head against the rock again. "Here?"

"Perfect! You'll have to hit it at an angle though. Hit to your right."

Bastiodon shifted his position slightly and Aerodactyl shouted down to let him know that they were both in a perfect position now.

Roy looked up at the side of the volcano. "Oh wait, they're not going to…"

Aamira saw it now too. A few boulders were in a precarious position just above Chansey's house. They must have been trying to clear it before the rain or another earthquake sent it rolling down towards Chansey's house.

"Alright, go for it!" Aerodactyl shouted.

Bastiodon took a running start and hit his head against the side of the volcano a few times before the boulders came loose and started rolling down towards them. Aerodactyl hit them with Hyper Beam, making them break up into smaller pieces. When they got to where Rampardos was standing, he would hit the smaller boulders to each side of the hut. Aamira had expected him to just smash them on impact instead of controlling where they fell. The amount of control he had over his power was impressive. Soon there were two equal stacks of boulders on either side of Chansey's house. Some of the really small pieces of debris they just let fall. Because of the fence around the garden, none of it got into the soil.

"Thank you so much for your help." Chansey said as Aerodactyl landed. "If those boulders fell on my garden, I don't know what I would have done."

"Forget the garden, you would have been homeless!" Aerodactyl said. "Well I suppose it is somewhat refreshing to find someone as kind and selfless as you after all of the trouble we've been through lately."

"It's what I do, I suppose." Chansey handed Aerodactyl a few coins which she put into her Collection bag that was hanging from her neck. "Thank you again; I know how busy you three must be."

"It's no problem. Now if you'll excuse us, we've been hired to carry some supplies to the deck of a ship later today, so we should get going."

"Of course." Chansey said. "Come back later tonight and I'll bake you three some cakes with the berries you saved as my way of thanks."

"We can't miss that, eh?" Bastiodon said.

Rampardos rolled his eyes. "I'll race you to the docks!"

The two of them ran off and Aerodactyl sighed before flying off after them.

"That was amazing, wasn't it?" Roy said. "Aerodactyl is so strong. She protected me from Mismagius once when we were captured together."

"Yea, she seems really strong and nice. What's her teams rank?"

"They're the Master rank. It's the highest rank possible. As far as I know, they're the only team that has it presently. A lot of people look up to our teams, but Team Jurassic is by far a lot more experience and extremely powerful. Bastiodon and Rampardos are fierce rivals and Aerodactyl acts as their leader, both guiding the two of them from the air and keeping them from fighting each other."

"Master rank, huh?" Aamira said softly. She had always assumed that they were one of the best Investigation Teams. It was a foolish way to think, she realized, though she was surprised to hear that there was another rank above even Diamond. She decided that one day she and Quill would definitely become a Master rank team. "Come to think of it, what's your team's rank? I haven't heard much about it lately."

"We were just raised to Gold rank recently. We're slowly catching up to you and Quill huh?"

"In your dreams!" Aamira said. "Alright, let's race to the docks too!"

"You're joking right?"

"Why would I do that? What's wrong with a race?"

"Yea, I guess." Roy was somewhat taken aback by how competitive she had suddenly become. Then again, he did like a good race as much as anyone else.

"Alright, first one to Grovyle's ship wins! Ready… set… GO!"

The two of them ran off along the coast. Aamira couldn't believe how soon Roy had passed her up. She had to really push herself just to catch up. Eventually she managed to pass him up by the time they had reached the northern edge of the island. It wasn't long before Roy managed to catch up though. Soon they were racing through the town side by side, desperately trying to pass the other. They reached the dock after running through a crowd of surprised pokemon. They were surprised to see that Rampardos and Bastiodon were still having their race.

Aamira and Roy glanced at each other and with a final burst of speed they managed to pass up Rampardos and Bastiodon, who looked stunned for a moment before managing to increase their speed also. At the last second Bastiodon tripped over his own feet and sent the other three tumbling with him.

Aamira and Roy ended up tumbling right next to the ship. They both extended their paws and touched the side of the ship at the same time. "I WIN!" they looked at each other awkwardly before bursting into laughter.

Aerodactyl landed and sighed. "Kids… Rampardos! Bastiodon! You two are the worst of role models!"

"And what's wrong with a friendly little competition?" Bastiodon said.

"What's wrong is a stone quadruped running faster than they were meant to and tripping over their own feet!" Rampardos said.

"Oh yea?" Bastiodon said. "Well maybe I don't walk on two legs but at the very least I can still use my front legs. What can you do with those stubby arms of yours?"

"I can take off my own scarf at least!"

"Will you two stop it!" Aerodactyl shouted. "In case you forgot, we have a job to do!"

"Oh you're late." They turned to see Autumn walking up behind them. She was carrying several large boxes at once that they recognized as props from the play. "I've already started without you. Aamira, what are you doing here?"

Aamira scrambled to get back on her feet. "Oh, we were just—."

"Well, never mind that. Wurmple and Beautifly are heading out tomorrow night so I've got to get this stuff loaded on the ship. I wish I knew where Grovyle ran off to…"

"Hi Aamira!" Aamira hadn't even noticed Wurmple standing behind Autumn with all of the boxes she was carrying. "You're in the tournament aren't you? I can't wait to see your battle with Quill."

"Oh hey Wurmple! The new play was amazing, as usual."

"Thanks! Mom and I spent a long time writing the script for it. I feel bad that I can't help carry anything though. Hopefully I'll be a Beautifly soon too though."

Beautifly was straining to pull a large back of props up onto the ship. One of the handles slipped from her grasp and the Ruby that was at the very top of the bag tumbled out. It started rolling towards the end of the dock and Wurmple quickly caught it with a String Shot and pulled it back to him.

"Good catch, Wurmple!" Beautifly placed her bag on the deck before flying down to check to make sure it hadn't been scratched.

Wurmple picked up the Ruby to make sure it hadn't been damaged. The Ruby started glowing so brightly that Wurmple nearly dropped it again. Roy started shouting in surprise as his Sapphire started to glow. Autumn was so surprised when her Emerald started to glow that she nearly dropped all of the boxes that she was carrying. She put the boxes down and looked at her pendant curiously. Aerodactyl was looking at her Topaz, which had also started to glow, in a similar way.

The light in the gems floated up from the gems and shot towards the sea in the north.

"Well that was… weird." Roy said.

The rest of them nodded slowly in stunned agreement.

They looked up at the sky as they heard an ear splitting screech. Above the volcano, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres were flying around, apparently really excited about something. The three of them flew off towards the north after the lights.

A few minutes later, Quill came running towards them with Sandshrew.

"You're never going to believe what just happened!" Quill said. "You've got to come see this, it's amazing!"

Everyone in the area looked around at each other and followed Quill and Sandshrew back towards the northern edge of the island. They found Grovyle standing there with Dragonite, who apparently had never moved even once since that morning. Out in the ocean, Groudon was standing with the water up to his waste. Kyogre was swimming through the water as she had been before. Every now and then she would jump up into the air, scaring one of the birds. What was most incredible was what she was swimming around. Where there had been nothing but empty sea before was now four separate islands, widely but equally spaced out from one another in the shape of a giant diamond.

"What is that?" Aamira said.

"I felt the ground shaking, but it didn't feel like an earthquake." Sandshrew said. "I thought it must have been coming from the ocean so I came this way. Quill said that he saw islands appearing near the horizon."

"The whirl islands." Grovyle said. "Also known as the Silverlight Islands. I thought they were just a myth. Many sailors have wasted their lives searching and yet there they are right in front of me…"

"Did our pendants do this?" Autumn said.

"Most likely." Dragonite said. "I've heard much of this legend. It was said that Lugia lived in the center of those islands. Every time he would submerge beneath the waves, a large whirlpool would be triggered in the center of the islands, which gave them their name. Kyogre must have been distraught upon finding them submerged beneath the waves. Apparently when Lugia was last seen, he dove so deep that a giant whirlpool swallowed the islands beneath the waves."

"Explains why those three are so happy." Roy said, indicating the three birds.

"It does indeed. The three of them used to live on three of the islands. The fourth was the place where the shrine to Lugia was built." Dragonite opened the bag he was carrying with him and pulled out a silver feather. "I didn't think I would find a use for this so soon. Apparently if you take this feather to the place in the center where Lugia was said to live, Lugia will appear."

"Really!" Quill said. "That's awesome! You know, Honchkrow was trying to get Lugia to appear before by hurting Moltres. I bet the reason for that it because his memory wasn't changed. I bet he would know the legend!"

"This is amazing!" Roy said. "Sandshrew, we should go!"

"Are you serious?" Sandshrew said. "You know I don't do well in water…"

"Oh come on. You could at least wait on the island if it means going under the water."

"Well, yea, I guess."

"We're going too, right?" Aamira asked Quill. "We have to find out if Lugia knows the legend."

Quill nodded. "Of course! Let's go!"

Aerodactyl smiled. "I'll leave it to your two teams then. We can't risk the water, you see… For Team Sandstone it's fine since only one of you is a ground type, but unfortunately, our whole team is stuck landbound."

"There's just one problem." Grovyle said. "Our ship isn't ready to sail until tomorrow. We won't be able to take you."

"I can't carry more than two people either…" Dragonite said.

They heard a growl-like voice from below them. They looked down the buffs and saw Kyogre at the edge of the water. She was obviously trying to tell them something, but they couldn't understand it.

"I think you've found a volunteer." Dragonite said.

"A ride across the sea on Kyogre's back!" Roy said. "This is awesome!"

"Well what are we waiting for?" Aamira said.

"Hold on, you'd better take the gems just in case." Autumn said. She handed hers to Aamira and Aerodactyl and Wurmple did the same. They decided to divide the gems up so that Sandshrew was holding the Topaz, Aamira was holding the Emerald, Quill was holding the Ruby, and Roy still had his Sapphire."

"You'll need this too." Dragonite handed them his Silver Wing, which Aamira agreed to hold onto.

Kyogre arched her neck so that she almost reached up to the top of the bluffs. The four of them jumped over the edge of the cliff and landed on her back. As soon as all of them were in place, Kyogre turned and started to swim back towards the islands. For such a large pokemon, it didn't take them long to get there in spite of how far away it looked.

Kyogre turned towards the island that was facing towards the mainland. She touched her nose to the edge of the island so that it would be easier for them to walk onto the island from her back. Aamira thanked Kyogre for them and Kyogre growled back to her before turning and submerging beneath the waves.

"So here we are…" Roy said. "I don't think I've ever just dropped everything to go on a mission like this."

"You get used to it." Quill said.

"This place is beautiful." Aamira said. For an island that had been under the water for so long, it was surprisingly full of life. The whole island was covered in grass and wildflowers. There were no signs of it previously being under the water, aside form a few white stones that were scattered on the island being covered with algae and several other small sea plants.

The top of the island was sloped like a small hill. There were several worn stone steps made out of the same type of stone as the rest of the island. The four of them walked up the stairs to the top of the island. At the top were a bunch of crumbling pillars surrounding a small shrine.

"It looks like the pillars surrounding the rooms inside of Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos's temples. Do you think there's a set of bells here for us to play too?" Quill said.

"Wouldn't surprise me." Aamira said.

"What do you think his song sounds like?" Quill asked. Aamira started humming it and Roy and Sandshrew looked at her in disbelief.

"The strange thing is, it's not like whenever we've gone to one of the other temples. I just know this one already."

"That's kind of weird that you'd know an old song like that." Sandshrew said. "So what do you think we should do now?"

Aamira took out the Silver Wing and raised it, but nothing happened. Roy looked a little closer at the shrine and found a small plaque on the front of it that was almost completely hidden by seaweed.

Aamira looked closer at it and was just barely able to read what it said. "Place the green gem of the sea to unlock the instrument of the sea's guardian. The paths shall open to the domains of his champions. With the three treasures in place, the path shall be opened to the fifth island. The path to Silvermoon Trench shall open."

Sandshrew placed his hand on the plaque. They couldn't tell what he could read from just the indents in the stone, but he seemed a little worried about it. "This isn't English, is it? How can you read it?"

"No idea." Aamira said.

"Hey maybe it has something to do with why you don't remember anything from before you reappeared." Quill said.

Now that Aamira thought about it, it did make sense. She knew the song, even though she didn't know the songs of any of the birds. She could read the language written on the plaque here. On top of that the place Lugia lived was apparently called Silvermoon Trench. Maybe that was where the Eye of the Moon was.

Aamira placed the emerald in the center of the shrine. It started to glow and the front of the shrine fell away. The inside of the shrine was hollow and inside was some sort of instrument that they had never seen before. Along with that, three steel paths extended from the base of the island they were on to the other three islands.

Roy picked up the instrument from the shrine. "What is it?"

"It's an ocarina made from a conch shell." Aamira took it and played a few notes on it. In Articuno's temple if the song wasn't played right then the whole temple started shaking, but she had a feeling it wouldn't happen here. The sound was beautiful. She had a hard time believing that this was some ancient instrument.

"So what do we do now?" Sandshrew asked.

"I'm guessing that the rest of the gems go on the other islands." Quill said. "The colors would probably match the pokemon. Yellow for Zapdos, red for Moltres, and blue for Articuno. There are probably similar shrines on their islands for the other gems."

"Well let's go then!" Roy said.

"I'll stay here." Aamira said. "I'm worried that Honchkrow might show up if he really has been looking for Lugia."

"Sounds like a good idea." Quill said. "Alright, let's split up."

Quill took the path on the left towards the volcanic island that faced towards Ignis. Sandshrew took the center path to the mesa-like island that faced towards Silex. Roy took the right path to the mountainous island in the north.

Aamira watched them leave, expecting Honchkrow to appear as soon as they were out of sight. It remained quiet on the island however. Aamira practiced playing Lugia's song to pass the time, wondering how long it would take for them to get back.

Honchkrow was nearby, however. Sandshrew faced towards the mesa. Judging by the air currents he assumed that there was a path leading up to a cave in the side of it, which would probably lead to a dungeon. He sniffed at the air and smelled some of the algae that was at the top of the mesa. Judging by how high up it smelled, he assumed that the dungeon probably wasn't a very big one. Being submerged in the water for so long, though, it was untelling what kind of pokemon lived there.

Sandshrew stepped forward, but immediately yelped and stepped back at the sound of the rush of wings in front of him. Sandshrew sniffed at the air. He could already tell by the sound of the wing beats how big the pokemon in front of him was, but he had to make sure he wasn't mistaken.

"I've been looking for you." Honchkrow said. "This time I'll make sure you take me seriously.


	47. Chapter 47 The Two Siblings

Quill dodged to his left as a Golbat appeared seemingly out of nowhere and attacked him. He rolled behind it and used Flamethrower, knocking it out almost instantly. He looked back at it for a second before proceeding to the dungeon's exit.

He found himself at the bottom of a crumbling staircase like the one that had led to the dungeon. At the top of the stairs, about halfway up the volcano, was a small shrine with a stone statuette of Moltres on the top. Quill walked up to the shrine and noticed that the shrine doors were closed and that there was a sort of keyhole in the center. He placed the ruby inside of it. The ruby was the only gem that hadn't been cut and made into a pendant, but the diameter was still the same on all of them, so he figured that the others must have been able to open the other shrines.

The sound of a lock clicking came from behind the shrine doors and Quill pulled them open. He had expected there to be some sort of amazing treasure inside like the ocarina, but instead there was only an empty pedestal.

He looked up at the sky when he heard the sound of a loud screech and stepped out of the way as Moltres landed in front of the shrine. She stood there staring at it with her Fiery-Gem in her beak for a moment before placing her treasure in the shrine. The gem started to glow and hovered slightly above the pedestal. She raised her wings slightly and started to sing something in a strange tone that sent a chill down Quill's spine. "Oh, one who's feathers burn with the sun's warmth. Spread your wings, remember the courage which was lost in the flames. The warmth of spring beckons to the summer."

At the end of the verse, a sudden warm breeze blew around the side of the volcano. It might have been Quill's imagination, but there suddenly seemed to be a lot more plants growing in the area than there had been before.

Moltres turned to Quill so suddenly that he jumped. "Thank you for unlocking my shrine. I'm ashamed to say that I had forgotten myself for such a long time."

"No problem!" Quill said. "So if you brought your treasure here, what are you going to do now? Live on this island again, or go back to Ignis?"

Moltres tilted her head. "I'm not sure, actually. I hate the idea of hiding away like I had been before, now that my courage has returned. It's hard to explain. I'm worried about Lugia, but I'm sure he's alright. I think maybe I'll wander the world, doing whatever I can here and there."

Quill glanced over at the other islands. Clouds had formed around both of them. On Zapdos's island, lightning was striking at the mesa and a blizzard had started up on Articuno's. Quill took this as a sign that Roy and Sandshrew had finished unlocking the other shrines.

"I guess I should get going too." Quill said. "Do you think we'll ever meet again somewhere?"

"Who can say?" Moltres said. "I normally migrate to different volcanoes to regain my strength, so if you follow the volcanoes we might. Especially in the spring."

"Wait, does that have something to do with why bird pokemon migrate?" Quill asked. "You fly south in the fall, which would be spring in the south, and fly back north in the spring."

"Something like that." Moltres said. "Either way, legendary pokemon are still considered rare. Time seems to pass so slowly for us. It wouldn't surprise me if it never even occurs to me to look for your team for the next couple hundred years. Don't worry about it though. We all have our roles to play in the world. I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I really am grateful for how you and Aamira tried to protect me a while back."

"But you don't really know where you'll be going?" Quill asked. "Well, good luck with whatever you decide to do."

Moltres bowed her head slightly. "And you as well. Though I hope that what you decide to do will really make you happy in the end."

Moltres flew off after her last words, leaving Quill to think about what she had meant. Unable to interpret what exactly she meant, Quill started the walk back down the side of the volcano.

Back at the main island, Aamira was still standing there waiting for them. Quill showed up some time after Roy, but after Sandshrew didn't show up for a while, the three of them started to get worried.

"There's a lot of lightning on that island now." Roy said. "He must have gotten to the shrine. Maybe he got into some trouble on the way back though…"

"Should we go look for him?" Aamira said.

Roy shook his head. "Let's wait a few minutes. I'll go look for him if he doesn't show up, but if I go looking for him too soon, he'll probably yell at me for being overprotective or something.

Aamira and Quill nodded and the three of them stood there waiting. They were about to head to the island to look for him, when they finally saw him approaching the bridge. He walked over to them slowly and calmly, so they didn't think that anything was wrong. So what had taken him so long?

"Sorry about that." He said after finally reaching the island. "I got held up by a pretty tough enemy. Anyway, I unlocked the shrine. What now?"

"I guess I try playing the song again?" Aamira said.

Sandshrew turned towards Aamira. "Worth a shot I guess."

Roy hadn't noticed it before, but he gasped when Sandshrew turned away from him. "Sandshrew! What happened?"

Sandshrew turned towards his brother. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Now Quill and Aamira could see what he meant. Along his back were three large scratches that ran nearly the entire length of his body. Did he seriously not notice he had gotten something like that?

"Those scratches." Aamira said. "Where did you get those from?"

"Oh! Those!" He said as if he had just remembered something really mundane. "That's nothing. I was just surprised by a Pidgeotto. It got pretty windy further up the mountain so I didn't hear it coming." He reached around and felt the scratches in his back. "They don't feel too deep, for a Sandshrew anyway, so I think we can continue without immediate medical attention. Unless one of you got hurt.

Roy and Sandshrew glanced at each other. They hadn't gotten a single scratch. The dungeons had been surprisingly unchallenging for being placed on islands where legendary pokemon had lived.

Aamira gave a small cough to break the silence. "I'll start playing the song then." she stepped up to the shrine where the emerald still was. She started playing the song and this time the pillars around them started to glow in the same sequence as the song. Near the center of the song, the water started to shimmer in the center of the five islands. The bridge to Zapdos's island retracted halfway and the other bridges disappeared entirely back into the base of the main island. A fifth island appeared at the center of the four others and stopped right where the bridge touched its shore. There was an island on this one too, though it was shaped somewhat differently than a normal mountain. The first thing that came to Aamira's mind was a dragon's tooth.

"So that leads to Silvermoon Trench…" Quill said. "It looks a little scary."

Aamira nodded. Unlike the other four islands, this one didn't have any plants on it, not even algae or seaweed. Instead it was just solid black rock with a few slivers of silver visible in a few places.

"Well, no point in just standing around, right?" Roy said. "Let's get going!"

"Yea, let's get going!" Sandshrew took a step towards the bridge, but Roy stopped him.

"Hang on, I thought you said you didn't want to go if it meant going underwater."

"Changed my mind." Sandshrew ran off ahead of them. Roy sighed desperately and ran after him. Aamira and Quill suddenly felt like they were invading on some personal conversation. Trying to ignore that feeling, the two of them ran after Team Sandstone. By the time they got to the dungeon, the two of them had already disappeared.

"I guess they ran off ahead and the dungeon changed on us before entering." Quill said. "Well, let's just try to get to the end and hopefully we'll be able to meet up there."

Sandshrew was beginning to get worried. He and Roy had gotten into another argument after Roy had caught up with him. In the middle of their argument, Sandshrew heard something like a click coming from behind him where Roy was and his scream immediately followed along with the sound of a strong gust of wind. Sandshrew recognized the sound of that trap pretty well. He had triggered a few of those himself before. Roy was most likely somewhere all the way on the other side of the room.

Even so, he couldn't spend all of his time looking for Roy; he had to get to the end to find Lugia. If what Honchkrow told him was true, finding Lugia might be the only way he could cure his blindness. As farfetched as it sounded, he had to try. Luckily this dungeon was underground instead going up in levels. He had always been able to sense the air currents easier this way, possibly because his species was one that spent so much time under the ground in the first place.

He found the stairs easily and proceeded to the next floor. "Roy!" he sniffed at the air, but couldn't pick up his brother's scent at all. He was probably back on the other floor still looking for him. It didn't matter. It would probably be better for him if Roy wasn't around when he found Lugia anyway. There was no telling what would happen if Roy was around too.

None of the enemies in the dungeon were too strong for Sandshrew. He was surprised how many of them he could identify by their scent. It had always been something he was good at, but he had gotten even better once they had formed Team Sandstone. It was nice to see that all of his special training had paid off.

It was around the fiftieth floor when it suddenly occurred to him that he hadn't smelled or heard Team Sleuth at all. He stopped and sniffed the air just to be sure, but there was no sign of them in the area. And if they had been nearby, Aamira probably would have sensed him and they would have met up with Sandshrew.

"This is bad…" Sandshrew thought to himself. "If they beat me to Lugia, I'll never be able see."

He started running through the dungeon at a slightly faster pace than before. While in the beginning he had been somewhat glad to be able to go off on his own without his brother for once, now he was starting to get worried. Maybe he had triggered some other traps by accident? He could be hurt at the bottom of a pitfall or something for all he knew. If it had been Sandshrew, he would have easily been able to dig out, but if Roy was hurt…

Sandshrew shook his head. He couldn't worry about that right now. A Shelgon turned the corner and attacked Sandshrew with Dragonbreath. Sandshrew felt the air shimmer from the heat of the attack and dodged to the side. He jumped into the air and knocked out the Shelgon with a single Slash attack.

He had to be getting close by now. He was on floor seventy-four when he noticed a familiar scent ahead of him. He ran down the stairs to the seventy-fifth floor and found Team Sleuth standing in the center of a room that smelled like seawater.

"Oh there you are!" Aamira said. "We've been looking for you two forever."

"But wait, where's Roy?" Quill asked. "He's not with you."

"No…" Sandshrew said. "We got separated pretty early on and I haven't been able to find him. I'm sure he's fine though; what about Lugia?"

"Not here." Aamira said. "There's some sort of silvery gemstone here, but it doesn't look like Lugia's sealed inside of it."

Sandshrew sniffed at the air. "Smells like quartz. Doesn't seem as solid as it would normally be though. I'm guessing the silver color is caused by seawater or air bubbles that were trapped inside of it while it was forming. But are you sure that Lugia's not here?"

"I'm sure of it." Aamira said. "The only aura in this part of the dungeon comes from the gemstone and Lugia's not inside of it. Since Quartz naturally absorbs aura, he must have been gone from here for a long time."

"So in other words, it was a complete waste of time!" Quill said. "Well I guess it wasn't really. We did get this cool ocarina. I'm sure Dragonite would probably want the Silver Wing back and we might as well donate the ocarina to the museum too."

"To help make up for the statue I destroyed…" Aamira said. Quill laughed. It seemed strange that she would suddenly feel guilty about it after destroying it on a hunch.

"Sandshrew!" Sandshrew turned to the sound of his brother's voice. His footsteps sounded irregular and he was panting heavily. "Thank goodness you're okay!"

"Thank goodness that I'm okay?" Sandshrew said. Along with his brother's scent, he also smelled a large number of other pokemon's scents. It was obvious that he had gotten into a lot of battles on the way there. "You're hurt, aren't you? And really tired. Don't try to hide it from me!"

"Well yea, I guess your right…" Roy said. "I was just so worried when we got separated. I couldn't help checking every single corridor on the way here. But I see you ran into Team Sleuth, so I shouldn't have worried so much."

"Actually, Sandshrew got here all on his own." Aamira said. "Wow, you're a mess, aren't you? You really shouldn't worry so much about Sandshrew if it causes you to get this beat up. Sandshrew doesn't even have a scratch on him, aside from the ones he got before coming here."

"Yea, you're right." Roy said. "I guess I've been kind of smothering you with how much I was worrying."

"Finally figured that out?" Sandshrew said. "You don't need to worry about me, but if you keep this up you'll give me plenty of reasons to worry about you!"

"Right…" Roy looked around the room and realized for the first time that what they were looking for wasn't there. "So what do we do now?"

"We already checked for any secret passages that might lead to a different dungeon, but we didn't find anything." Quill said.

"It's a little disappointing…" Aamira said. "but it looks like this really is the end of the dungeon. I've tried using the Silver Wing, but nothing happened. We might as well just head back to Ignis."

Sandshrew sniffed around for a while, but he couldn't smell anything else and couldn't feel any strange air currents that could hint at a secret passage. After Roy scanned the room a couple of times with his Aura Glass, he agreed there was nothing else there and the four of them headed back.

"Well at least you got that ocarina for the museum." Ninetales said to Aamira some time later. The two of them were in Ember's library, trying to look up references to the old language that Ninetales' diary was written in. "I'm afraid I haven't made any progress at all on deciphering the diary. I wish I could help more with this legend."

"Oh, it's okay." Aamira said. "I enjoy spending time at the library anyway. I'll help out in any way I can."

"I really do appreciate it. There's actually something in that diary that I was hoping to find a clue to myself. You helping me like this might help me find it, but for now your needs are greater than mine."

"I've never heard about this before now. What are you looking for?"

Ninetales shook her head and levitated the five books she had been reading at once back to their proper places on the shelves. "It's not really important. Most people don't even think it's true; just some old fairytale that mama Ninetales would tell their Vulpix to get them to sleep at night."

"I'm still interested though." Aamira said. "No harm in telling me, right? If it has something to do with a legendary pokemon, I might even know something about it."

Ninetales nodded. "Yes, that's true. Well have you ever heard of a pokemon referred to as the Vulpine Lord?"

"Vulpine Lord?" Aamira thought about it, but after a minute she had to admit that she had never heard of any pokemon that went by something like that. "It could be something really vague though. What's the story like?"

"Apparently a long time ago all of the Ninetales and Vulpix lived in a hidden grove in an ancient forest. Drinking the water in a pond there was said to make a person immortal so long as they always had a continuous supply of water with them. Naturally, they never saw any reason to leave. But then a group of Houndoom attacked in an attempt to take over the territory and gain control over the pond. The Ninetales and Vulpix were greatly outnumbered, but on the day when the Ninetales and Vulpix were about to make what they assumed was their final stand, a stranger wandered into their midst.

"The stranger apparently had many of the same characteristics as a Ninetales or Vulpix. Still, he wasn't welcomed right away. He was apparently nothing more than a weary traveler who had just lost an important battle and was exiled from his homeland. When he found out about their losing battle against the Houndoom, he agreed to help them. Some of the abilities he was said to have are unbelievable. They vary greatly from story to story, but the one that appears in each version was how he had howled at the sky and a huge dragon pokemon appeared. At first the Houndoom tried to fight it, but their attacks didn't even hit it. Shortly after the dragon sent them all running."

"Wait, if he had a dragon like that fighting for him, how did he get exiled from his own land?" Aamira asked.

"I'm not sure." Ninetales said. "It's possible that pokemon there are just stronger. Or maybe he wasn't allowed to rely on the dragon pokemon to help him in that battle. Whatever the reason, him losing that battle had led to our safety later on. Unfortunately, the dragon's attack was so strong that the spring was destroyed and all of the water along with it. Many Ninetales and Vulpix revered their savior and they made him their leader. After a while though, they began to lose sight of why they stayed in one place since the spring was destroyed. The Vulpine Lord agreed to allow them to leave, saying that it was also time that he continued on his journey. He said that if any of them ever wanted to find him that they would be able to, though no one had ever succeeded. At least, not that anyone knows of."

"What do you mean?"

"It's said that the reason Ninetales live so long is because of the dwindling effects of the water our ancestors used to drink. Apparently before the spring was destroyed, the Vulpine Lord drank from that spring also. The effects might vary from person to person, so for all anyone knows, he might still be alive after all this time. You have to admit, my grandma lived for a long time, even for a Ninetales. It's possible that she might have met him and he might have saved some water from that spring that he could have given to her. Another possibility, though I doubt it, is that she was one of the Ninetales that lived in that hidden grove and that she was even older than anyone else realized. Either way, she might have known the secret to finding him. If so, it's most likely hidden, probably by some elaborate code, in her diary."

"I see." Aamira said. "So even though a lot of people think it's just a story, I guess it's pretty special to the Ninetales right? You must really want to find this guy then."

"Well of course." Ninetales said. "You may not have noticed, but Vulpix and Ninetales don't live in packs like they used to back then. The reason being is that many of us still see his as our leader and wouldn't dare form another pack and undermine the authority that our ancestors granted him. Finding our leader is a mission that many Vulpix and Ninetales take on during their lifetime. Many of them form Investigation Teams for such a purpose."

"Like you?" Aamira asked.

Ninetales nodded. "Very few other species know about him though. Just don't go mentioning them to any Houndour or Houndoom. Apparently some of them are still holding a grudge, though their shorter lifespan has allowed some time for them to forget. If any of them heard the full story, they probably wouldn't care one way or the other, though it's still best to be careful with such a debatable topic."

Aamira nodded and started looking through the next book. Ninetales' diary was laying open between them to use as a reference, but they still weren't having much luck. They would probably stay there until night fell and they still wouldn't be any closer.

Quill couldn't understand why Aamira wanted to stay locked up in the library all day when their battle would be starting in just a few hours. Neither of them felt the need to train; it was best to rest up and fight each other as they were then to needlessly try to pull ahead of the other. Quill had decided to spend the rest of his day with his other family members who he never knew existed until after meeting Aamira.

In spite of being from Tempestas, Quill found that Jolteon really was pretty cool. He easily won the prizes of most of the festival games, except for Lucky Chant which Espeon was still the master of. Jolteon had tried it with the philosophy that if he kept guessing the star, he would eventually get it, though he ran out of money to play with before it could happen. Before long, he and Espeon had started a silly competition of who would win the most games. The winner would get all of the other's prizes.

"I hate when they get like this…" Glaceon said. "They get really scary when they start to compete with each other."

"Maybe, but it looks like they're still having a lot of fun." Quill said. They were currently arguing about other cheating on a test your strength game. Jolteon was accusing Espeon of levitating the metal peg with her psychic abilities to make it hit the bell while Espeon was accusing Jolteon of using his electrical abilities as a magnet to make it hit the bell. Neither of them were getting anywhere with it and the person in charge of the game slipped the prizes for winning into their bags without either them noticing.

Leafeon laughed. "They're going to be here a while. Sometimes I think I know what Jolteon's trying to do and I think Espeon might realize it too."

"What do you mean?" Quill asked.

"You mean Espeon's never told you about Shadow?" Flareon asked.

"My brother?" Quill asked.

"No, the other Shadow." Vaporeon said. "You'd think there are enough of us as it is, but we all had an additional older brother. He was the oldest of our group and sort of like our leader in a way. Espeon is the youngest of us and she always really looked up to Shadow."

"To tell you the truth, I think she was Shadow's favorite sibling too." Leafeon said. "He always helped her train and his praise one day was what allowed her to evolve into an Espeon. Compared to the rest of us, he was a bit of a loner though."

"So where is he?" Quill asked.

"We don't know." Vaporeon said. "We were heading to this world from Desolo when we were attacked by a strong enemy. Shadow stayed behind to slow them down while we escaped, but then we were all separated."

"Espeon and I managed to get in touch fairly quickly." Flareon said. "Luckily we fell close to one another. We were sure the rest of our family had made it through okay, but we hadn't known what happened to Shadow. Espeon immediately assumed the worst, and since the rest of us were able to find each other again, it looks like she might have been right. After finding Jolteon, he started acting a little differently. It's possible he's trying to fill the void that Shadow left."

"I see…" Quill had never heard about why his younger brother had been named Shadow. He couldn't imagine how painful it must have been for Espeon to lose Shadow all over again. "Hey come to think of it, why did you guys leave Desolo in the first place?"

"It's… sort of a touchy subject…" Vaporeon said hesitantly. "You might not want to mention it around Espeon especially. Shadow had been accused of something and of course everyone assumed that all of us had been involved since we were always together. We know he didn't do anything bad, but we had to escape together regardless. So we came here to this world."

"Oh, so I guess Shadow must have felt responsible when you were cornered…" Quill decided it was probably best to drop the subject there. Espeon and Jolteon had started a full blown battle right in the middle of the festival and people were starting to run for cover.

Leafeon sighed trotted towards them. "I'll break it up…"

Quill laughed with the others. It felt nice being able to enjoy the company of family members. "I should probably get looking for Aamira. The sun will be setting soon. You'll all be watching our match, right?"

"Of course." Glaceon said. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Quill ran off towards the library, confident that Aamira would still be there. Sure enough, when he got there she was flipping through the pages in Ninetales' diary while Ninetales was taking a break and trying to comb out some cobwebs that had gotten stuck in her fur.

"Still haven't found anything?" Quill asked.

Aamira shook her head and flipped back to the page with the one symbol that they couldn't decipher because of how worn away it was. "Nothing about this part and the rest is so faded we might never restore it. It's just one character! What could it be!"

Quill walked a little closer and stared at it over Aamira's shoulder. "That one before it is a two?"

Aamira nodded.

Quill walked around in front of her to look at it from a different angle. "I wish I could read it so I could help. It sort of looks like another two to me."

Aamira stared at it and sat up straight. The books that Ninetales had levitating in front of her fell to the ground. She ran over to take a look at it herself.

"Well would you look at that." Ninetales said. "Why didn't we think of that?"

"It never occurred to us so of course we weren't able to see it." Aamira said.

"Wait, really?" Quill asked. "That's really what it is?"

"It looks like it." Aamira said. "Wait, that's what Ruko said, wasn't it? He said something about 'two' before he left. He must have known about this!"

"I did show it to him, but he said he couldn't figure it out." Ninetales said. "Two twos, or in other words, two sets of two. 'The traitor lurks as the fourth who causes great strife to the two sets of two siblings who struggle with life.'"

"Two sets of two?" Quill said. "Wait, so what exactly does that mean?"

He couldn't figure it out, but apparently Aamira had some idea. Before either of them could ask about her opinion on the meaning, she was up and running out of the library. Quill couldn't feel her emotions nearly as well as he used to be able to, though he could feel them clearly whenever she was feeling something especially strong. This was one of those times. Whatever she had figured out, it was something urgent.

Quill ran after her, stopping a couple of times to ask people for directions after losing track of her. Eventually he found her near the northern edge of the island. Dragonite was close by, keeping an eye on the situation, but it was obvious he had no idea what was going on. Aamira and Sandshrew had apparently been fighting and Roy had tried to break it up.

"Hey Quill, what's gotten into Aamira?" Roy asked. "She just showed up out of nowhere and attacked us."

"I didn't attack you, I attacked Sandshrew!" Aamira said.

"Why did you do that?" Quill asked.

"That's what I'd like to know." Sandshrew said. "What's with you all of a sudden?"

"Why don't we start with where you got those scratches on your back from?" Aamira snapped at him. Sandshrew immediately clammed up.

"It was a Pidgeotto!" Roy said.

"Pidgeotto only have two frontward facing claws!" Aamira said. "So how does he have three scratches on his back! It was a Honchkrow that did it, wasn't it?"

"And if it was?" Sandshrew asked. "Obviously he would have attacked me, so what makes you think I'm working for him?"

"Wait, Aamira was just asking about your scars." Quill said. "When did Aamira suggest you were working for him?"

"Well it's pretty obvious where this was going judging by how she attacked me out of the blue!" Sandshrew said.

"That's true. That's not like you, Aamira." Quill said. "Normally you'd try to think of some cunning way to get a person to admit to it, but it seems easy to guess what you were suggesting by how you attacked him."

"I lost my temper, okay?" Aamira snapped at him. "And why not? Sandshrew, I know you were the one who poisoned all of those pokemon."

"Are you serious?" Roy said. "Sandshrew's been working hard with Eevee to help find an antidote to the poison!"

"So then answer this." Aamira said. "Is it true that Sandshrew saved Charmeleon by smelling the poison in his drink?"

"Exactly!" Sandshrew said. "If I wanted to poison him, I wouldn't have said anything!"

"And is it true that the same type of poison that Charmeleon nearly swallowed is the kind that's poisoned the pokemon here in Ignis?"

"That's true." Dragonite said. "Chansey asked me for advise on a cure, but I don't see what you could be getting at."

"We were the only ones there, you mean?" Quill asked. "We went over this back then, but the only person who would have been able to do it was most likely someone in the room at that moment. But Sandshrew? And aren't you the one who said we had to trust our friends?"

"But you remember?" Aamira asked. "Sandshrew sniffed at it and said it was poisoned."

"I don't—" Roy stopped mid-sentence. "Chansey… Chansey said it was odorless…"

"You can't seriously think I did it, can you?" Sandshrew said. "Maybe my nose is just more sensitive than a Poochyena's!"

"We both know it isn't…" Roy said. "The only pokemon with a stronger nose is their evolved form. Sandshrew, why would do you this?"

"So now you doubt me…" Sandshrew said. "I agreed to form an Investigation Team with you because of a dream that I've had ever since I was born! You never bothered to ask about it though, did you! And you've done nothing but worry about me from day one!"

"That's what this is about?" Roy asked. "Please, Sandshrew. You have to put an end to this. You have the cure for that poison, don't you?"

Sandshrew turned to each of them, trying to find a way out of this situation. At the last minute, he turned to Roy and used Poison Sting. Roy stared at him in disbelief as the needles pierced his skin and he was thrown back on the ground. Sandshrew burrowed under the ground and Quill immediately followed him. Aamira and Dragonite ran over to Roy to help him up. They lowered him back to the ground the moment he started swaying from the poison's effect.

"He attacked me…" Roy said. "Why did he attack me…?"

"I think Honchkrow might have tricked him." Aamira said. "He's probably just scared and doesn't know what to do."

"Why did he attack me, though…" Roy asked desperately. "Why! Why would Sandshrew—" He struggled to get back on his feet, but Dragonite and Aamira prevented him from standing.

"You have to calm down!" Dragonite said. "The poison is spreading a lot faster than the kind he used before."

"I have to… I have to find… Sandshrew…" Roy stopped struggling and passed out. He was shaking and felt cold to the touch.

"This isn't good." Dragonite said. "I'll fly him to Chansey. Hopefully She'll have an antidote by now."

Aamira nodded and watched them fly off. She waited a while longer and eventually Quill dug his way back out of the ground.

"No good." He said. "Sandshrew collapsed the tunnel after a couple of miles. I had no idea how far he went or in which direction. He could be halfway to either Silex or the mainland by now."

"Roy's not looking too good either." Aamira said. "Dragonite took him to find Chansey. We should go after them."

Quill nodded. "I never would have thought though… Sandshrew was the traitor? And he attacked his own brother?"

Aamira shook her head. "I can't believe it either, really. But that's not important right now. We need to find Chansey and see how Roy's doing."

Chansey was back in the infirmary in the stadium. A few other pokemon were inside, all drinking some sort of fruit drink. Roy was sitting on the edge of his bed. He was holding a similar drink and was looking a lot better than he was earlier. Rhyperior was there too, trying to ask Roy some questions, but Roy wasn't replying at all. He didn't do anything but stare at the floor.

"Is he okay?" Aamira asked Chansey.

Chansey nodded. "Physically, yes, but he seems shaken up by what happened. It was fortunate that Sandshrew attacked him with a direct Poison Sting though. The toxins are much easier to isolate that way. Dragonite got him here just in time and we were able to use the data Eevee got from his analysis of the toxin to find the right combination of berries and herbs in order to make an antidote for everyone. Under any other circumstances, I'd call it a stroke of luck…"

Aamira walked towards Roy, who looked up at her as she approached him. "Are you doing okay?"

Roy didn't answer but looked back down at the floor.

"I'm sorry." Aamira said. "I should have tried confronting Sandshrew on this when he was alone instead of getting you dragged into it."

Roy shook his head. "No, it's fine. I should have realized… It's my fault… If I had just paid a little more attention to what he wanted instead of constantly worrying about him and thinking about what I wanted…"

"Don't say that!" Aamira snapped at him, causing Roy to flinch. "This has nothing to do with you! It's because of Honchkrow that this happened."

"You've figured out a lot, have you?" Rhyperior asked Aamira with a suspicious glance. "You know, I've been trying to get him to give me some information for a while and he hasn't spoken a word."

"So what?" Aamira said in a flat tone. "It's up to Investigation Teams to figure stuff out, right?"

"I suppose your right…" Rhyperior said. "I think its best you leave. He needs his rest. I'll continue questioning him after he has time to calm down and think a little more clearly about what happened."

"If you insist." Aamira turned to leave. "Just don't bother him until then."

"Wait!" Roy jumped up and grabbed Aamira's arm, but let go hastily when she turned back to him. "Don't… Don't leave just yet… Please…"

"Do you want to go somewhere less crowded to talk?" Aamira asked.

Roy nodded. They left the infirmary and found one of the unused private boxes that lined the stadium. They sat there together for a while, not talking too much, but it was obvious that just having a friend around was somewhat reassuring to Roy. After a while, the sun started to set and the stadium started to fill up with people. In all that time, Aamira wasn't able to convince Roy that what had happened with Sandshrew wasn't his fault.

"I'm not trying to pity you." Aamira said. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

"All of those people who were poisoned by him though…" Roy said. "How can I not feel responsible! I've been with him constantly and I never noticed him mixing up a toxin like that! Even if Honchkrow is to blame for Sandshrew acting this way, how can I not feel responsible?"

"You don't get it at all, do you?" Aamira said. "This is just the sort of think that made him so frustrated. You're feeling responsible for something that Sandshrew did because you weren't there to tell him not to. How do you think that must make him feel? Quill and I worry about each other because it's only natural, but we know we can trust one another enough when we get separated. We don't go running through dungeon searching for each other until we get beat up by dungeon pokemon.

"I didn't trust him enough… Is that it?"

"To be honest, I don't know. Maybe you did but he didn't feel like you did. From a different point of view, you can say it's Sandshrew's fault for not worrying about you as much as he should have. Who knows Honchkrow said to him to get him to become a traitor? Whatever it is, he probably just preyed off of Sandshrew's insecurities and made him believe things that were never true to begin with. The point is, I'm sure that if you got the chance to talk to Sandshrew again, you could probably get him to be himself again."

"But how do I do that?" Roy asked. "Sandshrew's gone, isn't he? There's no telling where he could be now!"

"Wherever it is, Honchkrow will probably know." Aamira said. "I have no idea what to do in the immediate future, but Quill and I will definitely be looking for Honchkrow. I promise, when we find him, we'll definitely bring Sandshrew back!"

Roy glanced up at Aamira then back to the ground and nodded. "Thanks, Aamira… It feels like you've been looking out for me ever since we met. Ever since that thieving Lucario stole my pendant from me without me even noticing it… Then getting me to compete in last year's tournament, which led me to forming Team Sandstone… I owe everything to you."

"You think so?" Aamira asked awkwardly. "Truthfully, I would expect you to blame me for all of this."

"Why would I do that?" Roy asked. "You had nothing to do with… Oh, so that's what you meant."

"Get it now?" Aamira said. "You can't blame me for what happened, so you have even less reason to blame yourself."

Roy nodded. "Yea, I've got it." He looked out towards the window again. "It's almost time, isn't it? You should get gone."

"I guess your right." Aamira stood up to leave. "You won't do anything stupid like try to swim back to the mainland to find Sandshrew, will you?"

"No, of course not." Roy said in a slightly brighter tone than he had been using before. "I have no idea where Sandshrew might have gone, so until I figure out what I want to do next, I'll just sit up here and watch the battle."

Aamira walked to the door and opened it. Outside she saw Shuppet floating near the top of the door with the side of her head against the doorframe.

"What are you doing here?" Aamira asked Shuppet. She hated how ghost pokemon could sometimes conceal their aura from her.

"Oh, uh… nothing." She backed away from the door hastily. "Well, look at the time! I should probably go find a seat."

Aamira laughed as Shuppet flew off. She was glad to have her on the team. If not for Shuppet's ability to eat negative emotions, she doubted Roy would have been able to recover from what happened.

Aamira walked down to the stadium. Quill was already on the battle field. He looked at Aamira in a way that she could tell he was wondering about Roy. Aamira gave a slight nod and he seemed to become a little less worried.

"Hello, everyone once again, and welcome to the final match in the Investigator Trilogy!" Charmeleon shouted to the crowed. "This is it! The final match between Quill and Aamira will decide it all. The victor shall become this year's champion and will win this for their country!"

Charmeleon pointed to something covered in a cloth that was on a stand in the center of the country leaders' box. Typhlosion walked up to it and took off the tarp. Underneath was the trophy that Charmeleon had won the previous year. It was given to the winner of the tournament each year and their name was inscribed on it. It had been so long since they had seen it that Aamira thought for sure that it was bigger than the last year.

"So without further ado, let's start the final match!" Charmeleon shouted.

Quill and Aamira ran towards each other. After waiting for so long, they were finally going to have their battle.


	48. Chapter 48 Seven Months Today

Aamira used Force Palm when she got close enough to Quill. He jumped to the side and used dig in order to dodge. Aamira figured he must have known she could sense where he was underground, but probably thought he could at least use Dig as a method of escape. That wouldn't work on her though; the minute she sensed him coming out of the ground, she would counterattack with Aura Sphere.

She sensed him coming up behind her and quickly turned and attacked with Aura Sphere just as he jumped out of the ground. What he hadn't been expecting was that his back was already flared up when he dug his way out. As soon as the Aura Sphere came towards him, he countered with Flamethrower and sent it back towards Aamira, who was

just slightly too slow to be able to avoid it.

'I can't believe I let him bait me like that!' She thought irritably as she got back to her feet. 'So that's the real reason he kept Dig in his move set. He must have known I would counter with Aura Sphere. Pretty clever, I have to admit…'

Quill attacked with Flame Wheel as Aamira stood up. Aamira feinted a dodge and just as Quill was changing direction, she shattered the ground with Force Palm and sent him flying into the air with the resulting shockwave. She jumped after him and before he could counter, managed to hit him with Drain Punch.

Quill landed on the ground hard. Drain Punch took more out of him than he remembered from their training together. It had been a while since Aamira had practiced with Drain Punch since she pretty much mastered it. 'She's gotten a lot stronger.' He realized. 'Even so, something seems off…'

Quill got up and dug underground. Aamira braced herself for his attack, knowing he'd probably try a different variation of the attack he used before. She followed his movements under the ground by tracking him by his aura. He stopped directly below her for an unusually long amount of time. Aamira ran towards the edge of the stadium as she realized what he was doing. Just when she got out of range, the floor of the stadium exploded from the Eruption.

A few people in the audience screamed as the lava and debris from the stadium flew into the air, but it never came anywhere near them. No doubt they were all still shaken up from all of the eruptions that had happened during Kyogre and Groudon's battle. Quill finally appeared when the remainder of the dust in the air settled, standing at the bottom of a crater that was about the same size as the original stadium.

Aamira immediately got excited when she saw the crater he had made. Rocky, almost mountain-like terrain. Just the sort of battle field Riolu were built to fight on!

Aamira ran down the side of the crater to pick up speed then slammed into Quill with Quick Attack. He rolled up and flared up his back as her attack him so that she was hit by his fire at the same time. Aamira couldn't help feeling a little jealous. She wished that Riolu had some sort of natural armor or fiery spikes for protection.

Still, Quill had taken more damage from the attack than Aamira had. Quill got up and burrowed into the side of the crater. Aamira waited for him to jump out of the ground somewhere. He spent a long time underground and Aamira couldn't tell what he was planning to do. He never stood still, but maybe it was just a rouse in order to buy time to think of some new strategy.

Quill jumped out of the side of the crater right in front of her. He attacked with Flamethrower, but this time Aamira was able to counter with Aura Sphere and the combined attacks hit him instead. Quill landed on the ground and ran up one of the walls of the crater and burrowed back into the side of the crater. A few seconds later, he came out from a different direction so quickly that Aamira was nearly hit by his Flame Wheel. She dodged to the side and he straightened out just as he got to the wall and burrowed back inside of it.

Quill started digging around again and stopped suddenly off to the left. Aamira looked around at all of the holes in the sides of the crater, and suddenly realized what Quill was doing. She tried to jump out of the crater, but she figured it out too late. A blast of fire shot out from all of the holes and they all hit her simultaneously. All that digging around Quill had done had created a sort of fire trap that he had set off with a Flamethrower that went through all of the connecting tunnels.

Aamira fell to her knees and she took a moment to try to recover from the attack. Her arms were the worst hit, but since the attack had been so widely dispersed, they weren't really badly burned.

Quill dug out of the crater and stood at the top looking down at her. "Come on, Aamira! You switched out Sucker Punch for our battle, didn't you? Both of the times you used your dark aura before, you were trying to help me, so you don't need to worry about that."

Aamira stared up at him. Until then she hadn't even realized that she had been scared enough to be holding back. She seriously thought that she was giving it her all and losing miserably, but now she realized that she had subconsciously been holding back out of fear of hurting Quill.

"I feel a little insulted really…" Quill said. "You just assumed that you would be able to hurt me, as if you were certain you could. Either way, you made a promise, didn't you? You promised that we would have a real battle and that neither of us would stop holding back. So come on!"

Aamira nodded as she started to recover from the shock of what Quill was saying. She jumped out of the crater with one jump and attacked with Drain Punch, which Quill just barely avoided. Aamira rolled in order to avoid a possible counter attack and turned to Quill and attacked with Aura Sphere.

Still recovering from dodging the Drain Punch, Quill didn't have time to dodge the Aura Sphere. He took a direct hit and was almost knocked back into the crater. It had hurt more than he remembered when she fought at full strength. For a moment, he started to doubt whether or not he would be able to keep up the battle.

Quill stood back up and attacked with Flame Wheel. Aamira jumped above him to dodge, the large flames just barely grazing the fur on one of her arms. Quill stopped after losing sight and looked around for a moment and was immediately hit in the back by Drain Punch before he had a chance to flare up his back again.

Quill stumbled and as he was falling, he managed to turn and counterattack with Flamethrower. This time his attack landed a direct hit, though he had still taken a lot more damage at this point.

Quill tuned around and attacked head on with Flame Wheel again. This time Aamira was able to dodge completely, so he stopped his attack and used Flamethrower from behind. Aamira turned and blocked the majority of the fire by crossing her arms out on front of her. She attacked with Aura Sphere, which Quill was able to dodge, but then she caught him off guard by transitioning into Quick Attack.

Aamira could hardly believe she had been able to make such a comeback like this. She had been in trouble for a while there, but now she was the one who was winning. Quill on the other hand, was now the one in trouble. He realized that Dig wouldn't work now that she was fighting seriously. She would easily figure out any tactics he would use with Dig now.

Unfortunately, Quill had no idea what Aamira's weakness was. He knew there was a nerve on the back of a Riolu's neck that caused them to freeze up momentarily, but there was no way he could get close enough to hit it. Other than that, he couldn't think of anything that could give him the advantage.

Eruption always tired him out pretty quickly, but he knew he had to try it again if he was ever going to win this. Quill used eruption and Aamira frantically tried to dodge the attack. Part of the attack managed to get her on the arm. Unfortunately, it was her right arm that was hit and it had gone completely numb. She used her right arm mainly while battling, which meant that she was in trouble again. If only she had listened when being taught by Lucario and Ruko and had learned to use both arms with the same amount of skill, she wouldn't be in this situation.

Aamira tried to think of what she could do with her right arm completely useless. Quill used Flame Wheel and Aamira hastily stumbled back towards the crater. She felt over the edge and Quill rolled over her. As she was falling, she kicked out at him as hard as she could and knocked him away. She righted herself as she fell towards the bottom of the crater and landed on all four with her tail outstretched in order to keep her balance.

Though Quill hadn't been expecting her to kick once her arm was hit, the outcome did give him an idea of what he could do to turn the battle in his favor. Right now it was hard to tell which one of them was winning, but whether this plan worked or not, the tide of the battle would be changed. The only question then would be who it would have changed in favor for.

Quill jumped into the crater after Aamira. He used Flame Wheel and used the slope of the crater walls in order to build up speed. Aamira dodged out of the way, but at the last second Quill turned and used Flamethrower, aiming at her tail. She hadn't noticed where Quill was aiming until it was too late. Aamira winced as her tail was burned badly from the close range fire attack.

When his attack ended, Aamira chased after him and used Drain Punch. Quill figured that his plan must have ended in a failure after all. Quill's head spun as what seemed to be the last of his energy was stolen from him. Out of desperation, he managed to tunnel into the ground. Aamira hurried out of the crater in case he tried to use the fire trap he had set before.

Quill appeared on the opposite side of the crater from her. Aamira could hardly believe that this determined, though exhausted, Cyndaquil she was looking at was the same one that she had first met at Shroud Lake such a long time ago. She had to smile, though she was careful not to let her guard down. The two of them were exhausted and no doubt they were both willing to let the other take a break for a few seconds. Or maybe he was just waiting to see what she would do next? She couldn't tell.

Aamira's tail was throbbing from the burn and she knew that this battle had to end soon one way or another. She started running towards her right and Quill ran to meet her in the same direction. As they converged towards one another, neither of them took their eyes off of the other for a single moment.

Aamira fired a couple of Aura Spheres at Quill, but he managed to dodge by running on all fours. He acted like he was about to jump in the air for the next attack, so Aamira crouched lower to the ground, preparing to dodge underneath him and turn to use another Aura Sphere from behind.

At the last second, Quill changed tactics. He rolled along the ground sideways and swept under Aamira's feet. In the position she was in, she wasn't able to readjust. She stumbled on the ground as Quill rolled over and skidded to a stop on all fours, causing the dust that his paws brushed up to billow around them, making it slightly difficult to see what was happening for a moment.

Aamira tried to catch herself with her arms, but her tail throbbed with pain and she stumbled forward, unable to keep her balance. She fell onto her injured right arm, which had taken most of her weight as she tried to catch herself due to the direction she had been stumbling in.

She couldn't move her right arm out from underneath her at all and she was too tired to roll herself over with just her left. She tried to straighten her tail so that she could lift herself up with her legs alone, but it would no longer stretch as far as it was supposed to.

She struggled with her legs and left arms for a while and tried in vain to move her right arm. 'So, it looks like my little brother beat me…' She smiled and, after reaching the point of exhaustion where she could barely move at all, she collapsed back onto the ground and didn't attempt to get up again.

Quill was still standing on all fours in the same position that he had been in after the last attack. Small sparks were sputtering from the spots on his back with every raspy breath he took to try to get his lungs to work properly again. After a while of standing like this, he became aware that the crowd was cheering.

Typhlosion called the match. It was over. Somehow, he had managed to win. Not only had he defeated Aamira, but Quill had also won the entire tournament! He let this sink in for a moment and started cheering along with the crowd.

"Yea, yea, congratulations…" Aamira was speaking in a tone that sounded like a strange mix of contempt and happiness. Quill figured she must have added the tone of contempt as her own special way of saying that she really meant it like no one but Aamira would say it. "Now if you don't mind…"

"Oh, sorry…" Quill ran over to Aamira and helped her up. "That was an awesome battle!"

"Yea, you were pretty good." Aamira said. "Let's see if you do as well next year, champ!"

Quill blushed and laughed nervously. Obviously this wouldn't be something that either of them would be forgetting in a long time.

After a few minutes, Charmeleon came down to the stadium floor carrying the trophy, and being followed by the other country leaders and the substitutes. He cleared his throat once before addressing the crowed. "I daresay that this will be a battle that no one will forget in a long time. While I know there were many pokemon here and those who were participating who had hoped that the trophy would go to their own country this year, I believe that there can be no argument as to the winner."

Charmeleon handed the trophy to Quill, which he could just barely hold with it being slightly bigger than he was. "The winner of this year's Investigator's Trilogy is Quill of Team Sleuth. As for our agreement, as Quill's team was formed in Sylva, the tournament next year will, of course, be held in Vine City, the capitol of Sylva. Now to end the festivities and the tournament, there will be a special event hosted by Ignis's own Team Jurassic in the main square while the stadium is repaired."

A few people in the stands bustled around and started to move towards the exits after another cheer for Quill, but when someone else entered the stadium, soon everyone took notice and they all turned to see what had happened.

Rhyperior came in through one of the side entrances along with a couple of the Rhyhorn from his force and walked up to all of them in the center of the stadium. He had a few words in whispered voices with Charmeleon so that even Quill with his amazing hearing couldn't tell what they were saying. Whatever it was, Charmeleon seemed upset with him being here. There was an unsettled murmur already making its way through the crowed as people started to wonder what had happened.

Eventually Charmeleon backed down and Rhyperior walked up to Quill and Aamira. "Yes, congratulations to you, Quill, and you as well, Aamira, for such an amazing battle. I daresay yours will be one that goes down in history. And now it is with my greatest displeasure that I should inform you that the two of you are under arrest."

Aamira stared down at her Aura Glass as she sat alone inside of a dark interrogation room. What a strange thing, to be promoted to Master Rank as Rhyperior and his Rhyhorn were escorting them away. Dragonite had informed them on their way there that it had been under orders of Noctowl to do so, so Rhyperior didn't argue.

The Master Rank Aura Glass looked entirely different from the others they had gotten previously. This one looked so sleek and cool that it made the other ones look big and bulky. The handle was made of a curved cylinder of smooth marble and the rest was made of a mix of silver and gold. At the bottom of the handle was a black diamond wrapped in a coil made from the same type of material as the frame. The frame itself surrounding the glass was much thinner than the others and the lens seemed slightly more powerful than others. On the top of the frame, her name had been engraved in a renaissance style calligraphy. Along the bottom of the frame, the team's name had been engraved in the same style.

Sitting alone in the dark like this was more boring than intimidating. Aamira couldn't think of what they could have done wrong. They had saved Ignis from being completely flooded! She couldn't imagine why Rhyperior was so upset with them, though she realized now that he was, after thinking back on how he had acted when Aamira had talked to Roy. There was no point in contemplating over it when she didn't know how long it would be until someone came into the room to talk with her. She would just have to be satisfied with the fact that someone would show up eventually and, until then, she would have some fun playing with her new Aura Glass. Judging by the footprints, it seemed as though Rhyperior spent a lot of time pacing in this room.

With nothing else to do and with the complete silence and the lack of light, Aamira soon started to doze off and slouched in her chair slightly. She heard the door creak open and tried to sit up straight as she rubbed her eyes. Rhyperior entered the room along with Kangaskhan, Sableye, and one of the Keckleon siblings.

"Falling asleep already, are we?" Rhyperior asked. "I hope you find our interrogation room to be comfortable. I'll try not to bore you too much with the formalities, so I'll just get straight to business; Quill wouldn't talk so we're relying on you to do the right thing now."

"Depends on what you mean by that." Aamira said. "Being in Team Sleuth for so long, I suppose we've gotten used to traitors. This would depend on what you would think of as doing 'the right thing' since, to my knowledge, neither Quill nor myself has done anything that either of us would consider to be the wrong thing."

"Is that so?" Rhyperior said. "We have multiple witnesses claiming that you've done just the wrong thing. Two accounts of robbery and other suspicious activity. Yesterday past noon, it was reported that you stole various items from both the Keckleon's store and from Kangaskhan's warehouse."

"That's ridiculous!" Aamira said. "We've never done any such thing!" she turned to Keckleon and the others. "You can't honestly say we've done anything like this!"

"I'm sorry, Aamira." Keckleon said. "But you're just too hard to miss, you know? There's no way it could have been someone other than you. Your eyes were still red and purple at the time, so there couldn't have been any mistake."

"There you have it." Rhyperior said. "And what of you, Kangaskhan? What do you have to say on this matter?"

"Around the same time Keckleon's store was stolen from, Quill came to my warehouse asking to take out a few items. When I got the keys for your team's storage, he snatched the key ring and stole several items from storages belonging to other people." Kangaskhan looked really guilty, or maybe just nervous. "I really do like you two. I mean… I did. But my eyes don't lie and there was no doubt it was Quill. He even showed me his Aura Glass, as is protocol, in order to get into storage."

"That's just not possible!" Aamira said, almost shouting.

"There were also several eyewitnesses that claimed that you were running around frantically some time before this happened." Rhyperior said, which Aamira figured must have been a mistake people had made when seeing her racing with Roy. "Whether this has any correlation with the crimes of which your team is accused is unknown. However, there was one other peculiar event that does nothing in your favor. Sableye, if you would recount what happened."

"I'd rather not…" Sableye admitted, staring hungrily at the black diamond on Aamira's Aura Glass. "Though if I have to, I will. Yesterday, sometime around noon, Aamira appeared at the bank and asked to make a withdrawal of all of their team's funds, which isn't something that any well off team would do on a regular basis."

"They stole all of our money!" Aamira snapped.

"What do you mean by 'they'?" Rhyperior asked.

"It has to be some kind of imposter or a trick or something!" Aamira said. "There's just no other explanation!"

"This is no trick, of that I'm convinced. We do have proof. You would be saving yourself a lot of trouble if you just told us where you hid the stolen items." Rhyperior said with a slight edge to his voice.

"We didn't steal anything!" Aamira said. "And anyway, if you're so convinced why wait until after the tournament to arrest us?"

"Because of Charmeleon…" Rhyperior said irritably. "I understand he's new at being a country leader, but by saying the tournament was open to anyone, it meant that I couldn't very well make Ignis look bad by going back on that promise. He convinced me to wait until afterwards, though I was convinced that even though I made him swear not to tell anyone, especially you two about this. I figured he'd probably try to get the two of you to leave Ignis the second the tournament ended, which is why we intervened when we did."

"Either way, you say you have proof for a crime we never committed." Aamira said. "What kind of proof do you have?"

"As was stated before, Kangaskhan saw Quill's Aura Glass as part of protocol, though Quill claimed that he never went to her warehouse that day alone. There's also the matter of you insisting that you never withdrew your team's entire funds from the bank, which would lead us to believe that it would be tied into the other events. As with Kangaskhan Storage, the bank also has protocols, one of which requires a signed document for any withdrawal over 500,000 poke. Sableye, do you have such a document in your possession?"

Sableye was in a trance and drooling slightly while staring at the diamond on Aamira's Aura Glass. "Huh? Oh, yes! Of course!" he fumbled with the pouch hung around his neck and pulled out a small scroll that was sealed with a gem-shaped Combee wax seal.

He handed it to Rhyperior, who broke the seal and looked it over before he showed it to Aamira. "Is this your signature?"

Aamira could hardly believe what she was seeing. Though she never used a real "signature" on documents, this was unmistakably her handwriting. "I didn't sign it."

"You're not answering my question." Rhyperior said angrily. "Is this your signature?"

"Yes, but I didn't sign it!" She snapped back at him. "And besides, we have an alibi for where we were after noon!"

Rhyperior growled and handed the scroll back to Sableye. "Then please, do tell."

"Our team headed to the Silverlight Islands with Team Sandstone! You can ask Roy all about it!"

"And we did." Rhyperior said. "After we heard the same from Quill. After a while in an interview, he had to admit that there were times when he and his brother weren't in contact with either of your team's members. Being a senior Investigation Team, it would have been a simple matter to do what you had to, use and Escape Orb to warp back to Ignis, then make your way back to the islands after making the thefts."

"If you're so sure that's what happened, why don't you search the islands?" Aamira asked.

"That's what we're attempting to do, though so far the Rhyhorn are having difficulty in the center dungeon. I'd like to know where they are with absolute certainty before wasting any more resources in trying to recover the stolen items."

"Perhaps you've forgotten, Rhyperior, but it's our job to do very much the same thing you're attempting to do now. I assure you we had no reason to steal anything, since we've stockpiled quite a large amount of items on our own and have no reason to steal in order to get more. Now unless you can come up with a motive for why a respectable Investigation Team such as ours decides to become the thieves who we were trained to catch, I would have to ask you to release us both immediately."

Aamira thought she saw Rhyperior smile slightly, as if he was impressed by how well she was holding up under pressure. For a moment she thought that he might even agree. "I'll return in two hours. If you change your mind by then, I will make sure that your sentencing isn't as severe as it may have been otherwise."

Rhyperior left the room followed by his three witnesses. The door closed behind him, locking from the outside.

Aamira yawned and laid her head on the table. Without Chansey to help with her injuries, she would heal a lot slower than normal, though the Rhyperior had provided both of them with minimal first aid. Either way, her injuries would have no impact either way on how tired she was. Being exhausted from the battle and locked in a dark room, she couldn't help falling asleep, even if it would be for the entire two hours.

Aamira woke up and sat up straight as soon as she heard the lock click. It wasn't Rhyperior, as she expected, but Roy.

"What are you doing here?" Aamira asked, jumping to her feet.

"Not so loud!" Roy said. "Eevee's on his way to the interrogation room where Quill is being kept. We need to get the two of you out of here now!"

"Why? What's going on?" Aamira asked.

"I don't know…" Roy admitted. "I just felt terrible. Watching your battle really cheered me up, then to see you two escorted out of the stadium like that… And to think I couldn't say anything to Rhyperior in order to help at all. On top of that, some of the stolen items were found in your team's room. Since neither of you is going to confess to doing something you didn't do, both of you will be sent to prison for the theft with an accumulated time based on all of the items that weren't recovered yet. All together it would come to around five years."

"Five years?" Aamira said. "But with Honchkrow and everything else, we don't have that much time! How do you know all of this, anyway?"

"I'll explain later, or at least someone will, but we need to get you two out of here first."

Aamira didn't ask anymore questions. She followed Roy and the two of them moved as stealthily as they could. After a few close calls with some guards, they managed to find a storeroom with a small vent that led outside that they were just barely able to squeeze through.

Once outside, they ran towards the north of the island and met up with Quill, Eevee, and Ninetales outside of Smeargle's hut that led to his underground candy factory.

"You're both alright?" Ninetales said. "Thank goodness. I can't believe Charmeleon's plan actually worked."

"So what's going on" Quill asked.

"We know you didn't steal those things." Ninetales said. "Rhyperior is convinced though. Charmeleon led him to believe that Rhyperior had convinced him after telling Charmeleon about the stolen items found in your room. After that, he called together a bunch of people to help you escape."

"Why can't Charmeleon just make him let us go?" Aamira asked.

"It won't look good that way." Ninetales said. "We need the people of Ignis to believe that Charmeleon's a good leader, which he is. If people start to think he let a couple of felons go, they'll start to doubt him and there will be a disturbance among the people of our country. I really wish we could do more, but this is the best we can manage."

"We understand." Quill said. "I don't like this, but I have to admit we can't just sit around while real criminals are still out there somewhere. So what's the plan?"

Ninetales moved the cloth covering the door out of the way. "The rubble blocking the passage to the ocean was cleared by one of Kyogre's tidal waves. This place goes pretty unnoticed. Once the two of you slip in here, Espeon will guide you to Lapras who will ferry you to Chalybs. I'll use my psychic abilities to bend the light rays around here so that this area won't be seen by anyone passing by here and they won't think check for you in here. I have to warn you though; since Espeon and Eevee are relatives and Roy is a friend, it would look suspicious if any of them disappeared when you do. In addition, Lapras can't walk on land very well, so…"

"We're on our own after we get to Chalybs." Aamira finished. "We get it."

Ninetales nodded. "One last thing." She took her diary out of her bag and handed it to Aamira. "I'm loaning this to you. I want it back someday, understand? For now though, I think your needs are greater than mine. Even if you can't translate the rest of your prophecy, it might still come in handy."

"Ninetales…" Aamira could hardly believe that she would delay her quest to find the Vulpine Lord, something that nearly every one of her species undertakes, just so she could help them. "I don't know what to say…"

"How about, 'Goodbye, we're leaving now'?" she offered.

"She's right." Quill said. "We're fugitives now, right? So we can't be sticking around here for too long."

Aamira nodded. She hated this whole situation, but he was right. They were fugitives now. After everything that they had been through, it seemed strange that what they would be charged with out be theft. You'd think they'd be charged for something bigger like the kidnap of some important authority figure from a distant land. But no, someone had to be their undoing with something as ordinary as theft.

Aamira placed the diary in her bag, which they had found along with Quill's in the storeroom, and descended through the trap door into the abandoned candy factory. At the bottom of the ladder, Espeon was waiting for them there as Ninetales had said. The ruby on her head was glowing to provide them with some light. She immediately ran over to the two of them and hugged them so tightly that Aamira flinched from her burns.

"Oh I'm so glad you're both okay!" she said. "I was so worried! That Rhyperior hasn't got an ounce of sense in that thick head of his!"

"I think I'm going to miss nearly getting strangled all the time like this…" Quill managed to say through Espeon's bone crushing hug.

"I'm sorry." Espeon let go of the two of them and took a step back. "I know I shouldn't be acting like this. It's only going to make it harder for the two of you to leave. I really will miss the two of you though…"

Espeon led the way through the factory and to an area they hadn't seen the last time they were there. After a while, Quill said that it felt like it was getting more humid and he said that he could smell saltwater faintly. After a while, Aamira was able to smell it too and hear the sound of water washing up against stone.

Eventually they reached another area that transitioned suddenly into a natural cave. The cave floor was cold and wet. A few Zubat had already made their home here. They were asleep, which mean it was probably morning by now, and they didn't even notice as the three of them walked passed. The entire time, Espeon hadn't said another word.

Finally, Lapras came into sight where the stone cave floor met seawater. It was dark and the water reflected red ripples onto the walls when Espeon got closer with her ruby still shining.

"You made it. Good." Lapras said. "Kingdra had volunteered to do this herself, but I'm more capable when it comes to ferrying people across the ocean. I had made some plans prior to all of this to leave around this time anyway, so it won't look suspicious when they find me gone."

"Thank you, Lapras." Aamira said. "We really appreciate this. And Espeon too. We'll miss you."

Espeon nodded and spoke for the first time since they had met up. "I've gotten tired of working in Pacis. I know it was short lived, but I just don't feel as though I'll be needed there anymore. I really do prefer working in the academy back in Vine City, so I'll be moving back there as soon as I possibly can. Just remember, you two; if things get tough and you don't think you can go on anymore or if you can't find a way to move forward, you'll always have a home in the forest with me and everyone else."

Aamira was facing towards Lapras, not looking at Espeon anymore. Quill thought she was trying to act tough, but it was obvious that she was in a lot of pain right now. He was too, though neither of them would admit it. Aamira nodded and jumped onto Lapras's back. Quill followed after saying goodbye to Espeon one more time. Lapras promised Espeon that she would get them both to Chalybs safely.

Lapras turned and paddled out to sea. They saw that the entire northern part of the ocean near Ignis was covered in mist, no doubt created by Lapras for cover from searching eyes.

They worried about a lot of things as they sailed across the sea in silence. They worried about Espeon, who had seen them off in spite of how sad she was. They worried about the rest of the team and hoped that Glameow would be able to keep Machop in line. They worried about Honchkrow, who could be watching their every movement at this very moment. Above everything, Aamira found herself worrying about Roy. He had just lost his brother to the enemy's side and now she had to leave so suddenly after trying to encourage him.

The two of them took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep while Lapras swam and kept a lookout. After a while, she roused the two of them. They were in a place they didn't recognize. It looked like some sort of hidden bay that someone could only notice from the sea.

"This is as far as I can take you." Lapras said. "We're right on the northwestern edge of Chalybs now. If you go north or east, you can reach some low populated areas. The same if you travel south along the coast, though it's a bit riskier."

"Thank you, Lapras." Aamira said. She was a lot calmer now that she had time for all of this to sink in and some time to calm down.

Lapras nodded and after both of them were on the ground, she dove under the water and disappeared beneath the waves. They looked up at the sheer cliff face in front of them. The only way up was to climb, which wouldn't be fun with Quill's shorter limbs and Aamira's burns. The rocks seemed too hard to dig through, unfortunately.

They managed to find a hidden path up the side, so it didn't cause them as much trouble as they thought it would. After that, they found themselves in a somewhat grassy area that extended to the south and turned into forest to the north and east.

"What now?" Quill asked.

"We disappear." Aamira replied.

Roy hardly had an appetite, though he had had plenty of time to calm down since coming back to Pacis. The café in the Brigade's building was just as relaxing as ever. He couldn't help worrying about his brother and the leaders of Team Sleuth though.

What had caused his worry this time was the newspaper. His had just been delivered by the Delibird. There was a story about them on the third page where they were presumed to be dead after their trail was traced to a sheer cliff. A story like this appeared every once in a while, so Roy wasn't too worried about it. Some said they had been kidnapped by Bounty Hunters or that they themselves had become Bounty Hunters. There were so many mixed opinions on those two now and just as many stories that it was impossible to tell what was true and what wasn't.

The story wasn't what had caused his worry though; it was the date of the story.

Weavile sat down next to Roy. "It's hard to believe, isn't it? Not a believable word of them and they've been gone for seven months today."


	49. Chapter 49 Letters to the Fugitives

The last team to intrude upon this forest was named Team Fluff, a new team from Pacis that had gotten in way over their heads with this mission. As much as Cleffa and Igglybuff had begged to go home, their leader, Skitty, pushed the team onward. Of course, they were no match for the pokemon in this area and they had to rely on their items in order to get away every time they encountered an enemy.

"How are we doing, Cleffa?" Skitty asked.

"Not so good, Captain." Cleffa replied. "We're nearly out of Pure seeds and we've already used up all of the Petrify and Warp Orbs."

"Can't we just go home?" Igglybuff asked. "It's dark here and there are a lot of strong pokemon. Why don't we just call it a day?"

"Come on, guys!" Skitty shouted. "We must be nearly at the end by now! I guarantee there will be some sort of amazing treasure hidden in a dungeon like this!"

Cleffa mumbled something about Skitty having said they were nearly there over half an hour ago, but Igglybuff shot him a warning glace to keep quiet. They both knew how their Captain could get at times. All she really cared about was treasure. They never went on any rescue or escort missions or even outlaw missions. And she wondered why they were still normal rank after five months of being a team.

"I can almost smell that treasure!" Skitty shouted.

"All I can smell is something burning." Cleffa said.

Igglybuff sniffed at the air. "Hey, I think you're right. I hope there's not a forest fire up ahead."

"That would complicate things…" Skitty admitted. "Let's go check it out!"

Cleffa and Igglybuff sighed as their fearless captain ran off ahead of them. They had formed an Investigation Team for the promise of adventure, but they hadn't imagined it being so hard. They realized a while ago that it was all just a child's game that they had been playing and that if they wanted to become a real team they had to start with the basics. Skitty, on the other hand, was still living in a fantasy world where she was the world's greatest Investigator. She even gave every one of their missions some sort of fancy title.

This one if they remembered correctly, which they usually didn't, was called "The-Caper-of-the-Forest-that's-Sometimes-Hot-and-Sometimes-Cold-With-All-of-the-Changing-Flowers-and-Leaves-and-Stuff-that-Most-Likely-Has-Some-Super-Incredible-Amazing-Treasure-Hidden-at-the-End-of-It!" They had asked why it hadn't just been called "The Search for the Treasure of Seasonal Woods" and why they always had to have an exclamation point at the end. Skitty said that her title was both more exciting, accurate, descriptive, and correct on punctuation than their were.

"But since when do titles have punctuation at the end?" Igglybuff asked.

"Since I decided to correct all of the people who do it wrong!" Skitty said proudly. "Besides, you forgot the 'caper' part of it. Your title doesn't even emphasize the fact that there's some sort of monster at the end of this dungeon."

"Probably because we're hoping it's not true…" Cleffa said.

After a bit more arguing, which Skitty didn't even realize was arguing, the three of them continued on their way. As they walked, the scent of something burning started to increase. It got warmer and the air shimmered from the heat.

They finally reached a dead end in what seemed to be the darkest, farthest, point of the dungeon. The fact that they had been able to make it this far was quite the accomplishment for them. And yet, they saw no fire. The air in front of them shimmered and they only noticed that there was someone or something there when they took a step forward.

The three of them stepped back nervously, Including Skitty who hid behind Cleffa. The figure looked like some sort of shimmering black ghost. No doubt it was this ghost that had caused the temperature change.

"Who… Who are you!" Skitty demanded.

The ghost took another step towards them. "I am the ghost of the great witch Ingra, the witch of fire. Many years ago I was murdered by my husband in this very area. I swore to protect the secrets of my witch sisters even after death and so I shall. If you've come to claim the treasure that is my power, then leave at once or I'll turn the three of you into small piles of ash."

"P-Prove it!" Skitty stammered.

"Skitty!" Both of her teammates shouted.

The ghost stared at them for a moment, then turned her head to their left where a bush suddenly burst into flames.

The three of them screamed and ran for the dungeon entrance. The ghost of Ingra waited for a few minutes to make sure they were gone before taking off the cloak.

"Geez, this thing is warm enough, but with your fire it's almost unbearable!" Aamira complained.

"It was still pretty believable." Quill said as she burrowed his way out of the ground. "You're movements were all sluggish because of it. It looked a lot more ghostly that way."

Aamira laughed. "Yea, those kids were completely convinced. Nice job on the fire trap on the bush, by the way. You've gotten even faster at digging them."

"We didn't have much warning this time…" Quill admitted. "With all of the dungeon pokemon starting their hibernation, it was harder to tell when someone showed up here."

"Well we should head back home and let Exeggcute know that we chased them off." Aamira folded up the cloak and put it back in her bag. The two of them moved the tree branches at the back of the clearing that blocked the path into the true depth of the dungeon. They walked through to the other side and covered up the path again, making sure it was impossible to tell it was there from the other side.

In the deepest part of the dungeon was a large, partially hollow tree with an entrance at the base of the roots. Exeggcute was already inside finishing up making their lunch by the time they returned.

"That's good work, you two!" He said. "Tell me you at least stole their money before you chased them off."

"We're not thieves, you know." Quill took a bite of one of the fruits Exeggcute had foraged for in the forest. "We chase them off so they live you in peace, and you don't tell anyone where we are. That's the deal."

"Won't be for long unless you pay for the migratory months. I want that money before I leave." He grumbled irritably.

"Relax, we're good for it." Aamira took some coins out of her money bag and tossed it to Exeggcute as she started with her own lunch.

Exeggcute shifted through the money and nodded with approval. "Well done. Five thousand as promised. One thousand per month. How'd you do it?"

"We made a list of known Bounty Hunters and we spend our time tracking them down when we're not acting as your watch dogs. It's turning them in for the reward that's the tough part. We're constantly needing to leave them in different areas to keep anyone from figuring out where we are."

"We leave them tied up and then someone leaves the money for their ransom." Aamira added. "We can't risk being seen, but I think that they probably realize it's us that's doing it. They're probably finding our footprints in the area where we leave them by using Aura Glasses."

"And they don't rat on you for some reason?" Exeggcute asked. "I have no idea who you two are, but you're obviously liked well enough. Why are you on the run then?"

"That's our business, isn't it?" Aamira asked. "Anyway, your migration thing starts today, doesn't it? You and the other Exeggcute are heading down south to Pacis to evolve, right? It's going to be strange not having you griping at us ever few minutes for a full five months."

"You promise not to tell anyone we're here while you're gone, right?" Quill said.

"Sure kiddo. I wouldn't want to lose my privacy. You two I can deal with since you're away most of the day anyway. Those Investigation Teams that come running through here on missions every other day though are a little annoying. Ever since the rumor of a monster started, hardly anyone ever comes through here. I'd prefer it stay that way."

"Right, so we paid you for the five months you won't need us to keep anyone else away. When will you be leaving?"

"Five minutes." He said. "I've stocked up on food and there's no reason to stick around when the weather's about to turn cold. You know the drill; keep fire away from the tree roots, don't let strangers into the clearing, and defend the territory from the dungeon pokemon. I've never stayed around here in the winter, so I don't know how protected this little den is from the cold. Feel free to alter it to keep the warmth in. Could be I'd like to stay here one year and I could use a bit of warmth, being a grass type."

"You've got it, boss." Aamira said. "Any particular alterations you might want?"

"Not sure…" he said. "I know you two don't like sleeping in the branches all the time and it does get crowded in here when it rains. A second room might be nice, if you can figure out how to do it."

"We'll think of something." Quill said. "Have fun down south with your Exeggcute buddies."

Exeggcute nodded. "Right then; I'll leave you to it. I don't want to see this place in shambles when I come back, got it? Well, I'll be off then."

Exeggcute walked out through the gap in the roots and for the first time in the last six months, they were completely alone again. They almost looked forward to the next couple of kids coming through there on a dare.

They had learned by now that Exeggcute's predictions about the weather were always right. If they were going to make this hollow tree warm for the winter, they would have to start immediately.

"So we've already got a good store of food hidden in the forest." Aamira said. "Maybe we should make two extra rooms. One for a bedroom to increase the living space and the other to store food in."

Quill nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. And what about fire? Exeggcute said to keep fire away from the roots, so we've never lit one in here before, but I bet if I dig down a little I can make a fire pit so that the flames won't get close."

"That's a good idea. Just in case, we should put it out before going to bed every night. And of course we would have to do something about the entrance. Maybe cover it up with a piece of bark and some branches. We'll have to be creative about it through since we would have to make it look realistic from the outside but we'd have to close it from the inside. Maybe we could devise some sort of pulley system…"

Quill went to work with digging out the floor and making a fire pit in the center. Aamira headed out to gather all of their food up from their hiding place. The hiding place was a good idea considering that Exeggcute was somewhat of a glutton. Even so, they had to hide the food so far away that it was somewhat of a pain going to find it again and carry all of it back. It took her two trips to move it all back and she found a few more fruits that hadn't fallen yet along the way.

By the time Aamira was done moving all of the food back, the extended floor in the main room was finished, the fire pit was dug out, and Quill had already started working on the second room. Aamira decided to go looking for more food. It was better to have too much than too little. By the time she returned, the storage room was dug out and all of the food she already brought back was inside already.

"I just realized." She said. "What about water?"

"We could just melt snow with my fire." Quill said. "It would be hard to collect it all though."

"What if we made a third room outlined with that huge log that's near the waterfall? We can make a sliding panel out of bark and open it whenever we need water to let the snow in. And maybe we could make some sort of bowl or something suspended at the bottom to heat it up and melt it in."

"That's great, but what could we use for the bowl? We can't make it out of branches and tree bark or it would burn."

"I could carve one out of the stone around the waterfall. It would be easy with a weaker force palm to make a bowl-like indent."

"Alright. I'll start on the second room while you bring that log back. The bowl shouldn't take as much time, so maybe we should find some bark for the doors and the sliding panel before then."

"Sounds good to me."

Aamira left for the waterfall and lifted the huge log on her back. She had carried boulders heavier than this before, but she was exhausted by the time she brought it back to the tree. Quill had the bedroom done by then and helped to burn off the moss and fungus that was growing on the log. They put it into position where they wanted the other room to be and Quill used the log as a frame to dig down under the ground. They slid the log into place and Aamira broke a hole in the side of it with Force Palm to make an entrance back into the main room. Quill dug out a small pit in the ground where the bowl would go and set up something like his fire trap where he could use Flamethrower to heat it up.

They gathered some pieces of bark and some sticks from the forest and dug out some grooves to make a sliding door on the inside of the room and did a similar thing with the doors to the other rooms. Aamira cut out a groove in the log to make a sliding panel to open and close it. To keep any pokemon from falling into the log and possibly finding their hiding place, they covered the top with thin branches to make a grate big enough for the snow to fall through but too small for a pokemon to fall through.

The only thing they had to do after that was gather some leaves and branches for firewood and some of the bamboo growing in the surrounding area to use as a material to make a bed. Instead of making separate rooms for these, Quill dug out a small space near the ramp that led to the door and a similar one in the bedroom for the bamboo and fire making materials.

Aamira returned to the waterfall and used Force Palm on a good sized rock that she found to make a bowl. She had been worried she would have to carve it out of the cliff face, which would have been difficult, but luckily that rock had been there. While she was there she carved another stone into a flat slab that they could place over the fire in case they wanted to cook some of the fruits for a change of pace. She picked up a few smaller stones to line the fire pit too as an extra precaution to keep the tree from going up in flames.

As it turned out, the four larger rocks she found when evenly spaced around the fire pit made the perfect place to put the stone slab while leaving some gaps to prevent the oxygen from being cut off from the fire. In fact, with the stone slab over top of it, there was no danger to the tree if they kept it there all the time, sort of like the grating on a fireplace.

After that they couldn't think of anything else to do. The hollow tree had become quite cozy already. Aamira found a few tree stumps out in the forest that she broke off from the roots to use to make a table and chairs and their bed had been set up in the other room. At this point they were satisfied they could do no more.

"Maybe we should make a garden in the spring using the leftover berries." Aamira suggested. "That way we'll always have enough food."

"Provided we stay here long enough for them to grow." Quill said. "You never know; some Investigation Team might show up here without being afraid of the ghost and we'll have to run off again."

"The first place we found only lasted about a month. This one has lasted us half a year now. It feels like our time is running short, even if hardly anyone ever comes into the forest anymore."

"I snatched a newspaper that someone threw away from that village outside of the forest when no one was around. It looks like there's a story going around that we went over a cliff when running from an Investigation Team."

"Either someone trying to help us out or someone just trying to sound impressive by saying they had cornered the infamous leaders of Team Sleuth, no doubt. There are rumors like this all the time nowadays. It's kind of strange reading all of the stories like this. Either way, it's not going to keep people off of our trail for long. I assume there's nothing about Honchkrow?"

Quill shook his head. "Entei vanished shortly after we ran and we found out later that Suicune had vanished shortly before Altaria left for Ignis. Honchkrow probably has something to do with this, but we haven't even seen a single Murkrow wandering around since we ran off."

"I'm beginning to think they probably had something to do with framing us. We'll figure it out eventually. For now we should get some sleep."

The next morning, there was about two inches of snow on the ground. The first thing they did was test the snow catcher they had made from the log, which worked perfectly to make water. After that they piled some snow around the entrance. They realized they would have to be more careful about their footprints now, so they decided after they were done making the snowdrift look as real as possible that they wouldn't go outside unless it was absolutely necessary.

The first day wasn't so bad, but after a couple of days they started to get bored. Sometimes they would discuss theories about who might have framed them or what Honchkrow was doing. Every now and then Quill would go into town to get a newspaper since his paw prints were smaller and less noticeable. There was never anything interesting.

They realized one day that they had completely forgotten both of their birthdays. Quill's birthday was during the two months when Aamira had vanished before, so she hadn't thought about it until then. His would have been shortly after they had become fugitives. Aamira's unofficial birthday had only been a few weeks ago, maybe a month at the most, along with their team's second anniversary. Though Aamira had never known how old she was since losing her memory, she found out that Quill had just turned twelve. She didn't know how old this was to a pokemon.

One night the two of them were huddled together next to the fire pit in the main room. There was a raging blizzard outside that was rocking the whole tree. It was impossible to sleep when it sounded like the tree would be knocked over at any moment. By this time, nearly another month had gone by so they had been staying in this area for nearly eight months.

The two of them were sitting back to back trying their resonation by using the Lucky Chant cards that Espeon had helped Aamira win back in the spring. Though they were most likely hundreds of years away from being able to speak telepathically, they were getting to the point where they could read various emotions almost as words. One of them would look at a card and the other one, sitting in a position where they couldn't see it, would have to say what it is by using resonation to tell what the other person was seeing.

It was Quill's turn holding the cards. The noise of the blizzard made it harder to concentrate and made for great practice. Aamira was trying to read Quill's emotions, but they felt off suddenly.

"What is it?" she asked.

Quill shook his head. "No, probably nothing. I thought for a second that I heard something, but it was probably just the wind."

"Yea, probably." Aamira was trying to concentrate. She almost got a sense of what the card was. It was either the sun or the moon, but since Quill saw a similarity between them, it became harder to tell anything past that from his emotions. Then the weird spike in his emotions happened again. "Are you sure you're not hearing anything?"

"Hmm… I don't know now…" Quill said.

The two of them stood up and walked to the door.

"…epl…" This time Aamira could faintly here it too. "Pleas… meone… help!"

"Someone's shouting." Quill said. "What should we do?"

"Well I know we're supposed to be on the run, but we can't just leave them out here in this storm." Aamira lifted up the door, which was almost entirely covered in snow on the outside.

Quill used his Flamethrower to melt a path for them to walk through. They wandered around through the blizzard until they heard the voice again. Aamira shouted in return in the hope that they would hear her.

"Who's there!" they shouted back. "Please, we need help!"

"Stay where you are!" Quill shouted back. "Keep talking and we'll find you!"

Eventually they found who it was that was wandering around through the snow. It was a certain Delibird who was carrying a familiar, unconscious Riolu on his back.

"Delibird! Roy!" Aamira shouted. "Are you two alright? What happened?"

"Roy came here on a mission to knock out the ghost that lives in this forest." Delibird said. "I was passing through trying to find you two, actually, when we met up. I tried to get him to give up the mission since a blizzard was on the way, but when he wouldn't listen I decided to follow at a distance just in case."

"He looks like he's nearly frozen to death." Quill said. "Quick, let's carry him back to the tree to warm up."

When they got back, Aamira made up a bed near the fire with some of the bamboo stored in there room and Quill added some more firewood to make the fire stronger. They laid Roy on the bamboo bed, wrapped him in Aamira's cloak, and got some berries from their storage. Luckily they had some Aspear Berries that would help him warm up some more when he woke up.

"What luck, running into you two." Delibird said. "You know, I never did get the chance to thank you when you gave me that Phione Dew for my mom."

"Don't mention it." Aamira said. "Roy should be fine now, buy why was it that you were trying to find us?"

"Oh right!" Delibird said. "I have a special delivery for you!"

He emptied the stack of letters that he had wrapped in his tail. They had never seen so many at one time before.

"What is all of this…?" Quill asked.

"Well I wanted to repay you somehow for what you did for me even though I messed up before." Delibird said. "No one knew where you were, so I thought that I'd deliver a bunch of letters from anyone who knew you personally and a few of your admirers. It took a long time to gather all of these letters from all over the place, but I managed it. Nearly got caught a few times. Rhyperior's turned even more bitter since you escaped and he figured I would know where you were if I was delivering letters."

"So he's been chasing you." Aamira said.

Delibird nodded. "I managed though. It took about four months to gather all of these letters. I've been looking for you for the rest of the time up until then. People started to think it was crazy by trying to find you. At some point rumors about the two of you dying started floating around, varying from place to place. People have all but given up searching for you, but I kept trying. After a while, no one thought anything of it. The reward for you capture still goes up every month, but no one thinks they'll be able to find you, except of course for the ones who sent the letters."

"These letters have been waiting for months for us to read them." Quill said. "They shouldn't have to wait any longer."

Aamira picked up a letter off of the pile at random. It was from Beautifly. "Dear Team Sleuth. I can't believe how well you've done with hiding for this long. I'm sure you'll be okay and that you'll find out who framed you soon. Our last play just recently went on tour. It's about a fugitive who was framed for a theft running from the police and meeting up with a kid who eventually makes him reconsider his choices. The fugitive eventually decides to continue his search for the real thief and when they find him, he and the kid form an Investigation Team. I bet you can't guess what we based it off of. Unlike the thief in our story though, I know you won't give up looking until the real thieves are caught. By the way, Wurmple would have written a letter too, but he's a little distraught right now. He just evolved into Cascoon and he's a little disappointed about it. He told me to say hi for him regardless."

Quill picked up a letter that he found to be from Vileplume. "Hello, Team Sleuth. I can't imagine what you two are going through now. Oddish wanted to write a letter, but obviously writing is somewhat difficult for him. Sometime after you two disappeared, he decided to join the academy and has been doing well in his classes so far. Sales are up this month, now that things have calmed down around here. There were a few… minor damages done to some furniture, so I guess the sales are reasonable. I've made some custom furniture for the two of you if you ever decide to come back to Sylva. You'll still have to pay, of course. Perhaps I could still knock the price down if the sales continue to do well. Whether you return or not, I wish you luck and may many mounds of money await you in your future."

"She's a little odd…" Aamira admitted as she picked up the next letter. This one seemed strange at first, since it was written entirely in crayon and was barely legible. It was from Treecko and Manaphy. "Delibird ended up here by accident and Manaphy wanted to write a letter to you, though she's not too good with writing English since she's mainly had to write in a text known only to ancient pokemon that live in the ocean. She wants you to know that she's been keeping the Phione in line and has reestablished a connection with Aequorean cities and will soon make contact with people from the mainland. A peace treaty with the Relicanth was offered and so far things are going well. I was skeptical when I first met her, but Manaphy turned out to be a good monarch already. Since the barrier was broken by Honchkrow, the temple hasn't submerged back underwater and has just been floating randomly on the surface. We've both been doing well in these conditions. There's something you should probably know though. A while back, some old guy with a cane showed up here. He kind of looked like a similar species to a Riolu, but I forget what your evolved form is called. He asked me a bunch of weird questions and at the end of it said I was something called an Aura Guardian. Weird, huh? Well apparently there are a bunch of cool abilities that come with it like increased power of certain advanced attacks, which explains my Energy Ball, and some enhanced senses. I'm not sure if you two would know anything about this, but I thought you might find it interesting. Well hopefully when we get a good relation with land-based nations we'll be able to visit. It's strange knowing this now; I had made a resolve when you left that I would stay at sea and protect Manaphy and the temple, so it seems strange knowing we'll be going back soon. Anyway, hopefully we'll see you soon."

They figured that the old guy he mentioned was probably Ruko. It did match his description, though they wondered why he was in the Sea Temple. Treecko being an Aura Guardian suddenly made perfect sense. It explained so much about what had happened back at the Sea Temple when they last saw him. For Quill, it was reassuring to know he wasn't the only one, though he hoped Treecko and Manaphy wouldn't be drawn into this legend somehow because of it. Either way, it was nice to hear they were doing well, at least at the time the letter was written.

Quill picked up another letter. "This one's from… Shedinja?" Quill and Shedinja didn't get along well, so he was somewhat nervous about opening it. "Hello, delinquents. Thank goodness you were in Ignis when you decided to finally snap. Of course I'm joking. Even if one of you is an arsonist, I know you would never sink as low as thievery. Quill, when you get back, you're still banned from the museum, I'll have you know."

Aamira laughed. "I guess that's his way of wishing us luck." She picked up another letter. "This one's from Gabite! Hey guys, it's been a while. Well you won't believe it! We got a glimpse of it this time around! It was really beautiful. The glass shone in the sun and left specks of rainbows on all of the sand. Well, at least from what we saw of the tail as it retreated into the ground. The sand closed up immediately after so we couldn't follow it, but we were so close, I just know that the next time we see it will be before it has the chance to run. The boss is still as tough as ever. I seriously don't understand that guy at all. We get messages from Infernape sometimes too. We help out sometimes whenever she tracks down large groups of bandits."

Quill held up another letter. "This one's from Infernape! Dear Aamira and Quill. Things are going well here. Not counting help I've gotten from Team Sirocco, I've managed to capture twenty three bandits from the time we last met to the time I'm writing this. Things are going well. Quite a few of them have some sort of relationship with Bounty Hunter teams in your area. I've compiled a list of names of the more infamous ones and the locations of their secret bases. I'm sure you'll want to track them down. Things seemed to have calmed down in Ignis from what I hear from Charmeleon. I still keep in contact with him and Typhlosion.

"Sure enough, this one's from Charmeleon." Aamira picked up the letter. "It's been a while. It's Charmeleon. Or possibly Charizard, depending on whether or not you get this letter before the summer solstice. It doesn't seem right not seeing you two around. Of course, I'm not around the Investigators Brigade main building much anymore. Ninetales wanted to send a letter, but she's been researching constantly since the two of you left. I think she's been trying to find the one who framed you on the side, though she mentioned once that she was looking for a specific someone. You two wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you? Anyway, Typhlosion's taking it pretty hard. He really liked you two and Rhyperior even tried to get him to help with the investigation once."

Quill's hands shook when he picked up Typhlosion's letter. Quill had trouble acknowledging that Typhlosion was his father at times, since they worked together on more than one occasion and Typhlosion was in the hall of fame. "Dear Team Sleuth. Things have gotten eerily quiet since you've left. On multiple occasions I've considered reforming an Investigation Team, but I couldn't find any teammates who I could work well with. I've decided to be a freelance Investigator working apart from a team. Every now and then I work with Ninetales's team when she has free time. I think there's a good chance we can find who framed you. I know I've never been the best at saying it before, it's even more awkward now that I can see my own words laid out in front of me, but I really do see you two as my son and daughter. I really am worrying for you more than any close friend ever could. Espeon feels the same way. She didn't need to tell me for me to know this. She made plans to move back to Sylva after you two left, but at the time I'm writing this she hasn't left yet. I wouldn't exactly call it a complication, nothing of the sort, but I suppose I'll let her explain that. So until we see each other again, just know I'm doing all I can to back you two up every step of the way and I know that you'll always make the right choices."

"It really is a little awkward reading our… our dad's… words of encouragement like this, isn't it?" Aamira said.

"I wonder what he meant about Espeon's reason for staying in Ignis?" Quill asked.

Aamira was already digging through the letters. Of course, Espeon's had to be near the bottom. Delibird told them it was one of the first he collected. Aamira opened the letter and almost immediately squealed so loud that she had to cover her mouth with her paw to keep from waking up Roy.

"What is it?" Quill asked.

"Well…" Aamira said with a sly smile. "Uh… would you rather have a younger brother or sister?"

Quill ran towards Aamira and grabbed the letter out of her hand. He read through the first part a few times, unable to believe it. "An egg… Just appeared overnight, just like that… I can't believe we're going to have a younger sibling! I think having a younger sister might be fun. She might act something like you! Maybe we'll learn how you used to act when you were younger too."

Aamira rolled her eyes. "Or maybe another little brother. I wouldn't mind that. I'm sure he'd be every bit as brave as you never were." Aamira took the letter back and picked up reading where they both left off. "I've bought a new house in Sylva and will be moving there in three days, thanks to Grovyle offering to ferry me to Chalybs for free. My last one near the school was already sold to a young Marshtomp couple who moved to Sylva recently. I'll be needing some extra space anyway in the future. Only instead of getting a house with two bedrooms, I got one with three. The third, of course, would be for the two of you. I'm sure you'll want to return to the Investigator's Brigade after all of this blows over, but as I said before, you'll always have a home in the forest if things get too tough. Your room is on the top floor. I know Aamira likes heights. A lot of the furniture will be brought from Ignis, so it will mostly be flameproof too. Probably a good thing. I know Quill hasn't had trouble with his fire since you two met, but judging by the markings on the egg, this one will be another Cyndaquil. I'll have to get used to the smell of burning whiskers again. Quill, I'm sure you don't remember that. Anyway, I'll expect to see you two the very SECOND your names are cleared and no later! I'll always support you two no matter what you have to do. Even so, please try not to do anything reckless."

Quill was trying to hide tears again. It wasn't the first time since they ran away. Aamira was sad too, but she stopped crying a long time ago. Maybe she had gotten used to this way of living, or maybe she just wanted to stay strong for Quill's sake. Whatever the reason, she had never felt so homesick before in her life. That she was sure of even with her amnesia.

Roy coughed and tried to sit up, but Delibird forced him to lay back down. "Calm down, you nearly froze to death. You need to rest a little longer."

Roy shivered and pulled the cloak tighter around him. "I'm sorry I didn't listen… I never took anyone's advice after Sandshrew ran away… Still, I never expected Team Sleuth to be hiding here. I guess I found the ghost after all…"

"So what have you been up to?" Aamira asked.

He shrugged. "The normal thing, I guess. Investigations every day, expanding my team. It's been strange without you two around."

Roy seemed so serious now that it was almost scary. He was nothing like the kid Aamira had first met in Divum. He was much more experience now. The four of them stayed up through the blizzard talking about things that had been going on since they left. Even by swiping newspapers every now and then, they weren't able to keep up with the goings on. A lot had happened since they left. Pikachu took over Tempestas while still maintaining his team and reformed their educational system based on Luxray's recommendations. Luxray's team had been promoted up to the Gold Rank since they had last met.

Apparently Metang's team from Chalybs had become quite respectable and were one of the favorites to win the next tournament. Aron from their own team had evolved into Lairon and had started to work more often with Shuppet. The two of them apparently made a good team. Mamoswine's recovery from the Aura Sphere took longer than expected, but now his team was doing pretty well. Kingdra had become a well respected leader of Aequor. Slowking managed to escape with the help of some of his cronies and was now on the run himself.

Flygon found something interesting on a trip back home to Silex. Dragonite joined him there and they found an ancient buried city. This immediately brought up stories of the subterranean city that the Crystal Onix was said to guard and was currently under investigation. Dragonite added when he met with Roy to tell them "you're welcome" for giving them Aura Glasses with the tracking devices missing. They had entirely forgotten about that up until then.

The biggest change was Togekiss temporarily taking Altaria's place as Divum's leader. Just when she thought that she and her family could live a normal life, she was chosen. Apparently she was trying to make a way for Investigation Teams to access the Sky Plane without flying type members. For now they had to rely on Divum Investigation Teams to take them through the cloud barriers. The Sky Plane's existence was no secret now, so it only seemed right. Apparently Rayquaza landed at the tower once a month, but never for very long. A few teams went to challenge him, but all were defeated. Kyogre and Groudon were still seen from time to time, but not as often anymore and never at the same time.

"What's been going on in Sylva?" Quill asked.

"I'm not entirely sure." Roy said. By this time the storm had calmed and he was warmed up again. "Team Overgrow and Sky were called back to help with something and after a month they didn't return. Two months and we started worrying. I decided to go check it out and decided to stop to take a mission or two when my stock of items started to run low. Then I met you two."

They were all quiet for a while, in a way that was almost unsettling. Aamira thought about the tribe that Dragonite mentioned that lived deep in the forest. Maybe the dispute hadn't ended after all.

"We're going." Aamira said, saying almost exactly what Quill was thinking. "It's been nearly a year now and we haven't found any leads to Honchkrow or his boss. All of our friends in Vine City could be in trouble for all we know. If we can't find Honchkrow or the ones who framed us, the least we could do is help Sylva."

"Do you think you can hold these letters for us?" Quill asked Delibird. "That way no one will now that you found us and we can finish reading the rest later."

Delibird nodded and scooped up the letters in his tail. "Will do. If you two go into hiding again, I swear I'll find you quicker this time."

In the morning they were ready to leave for Sylva. Quill had to clear out the snow from the entrance before they could even leave. Roy and Delibird were both impressed with the work they had done with the hollow tree.

They didn't know the eastern part of their forest as they tended to stay more to the west and south, but luckily this was part of the same forest where Roy's foster mother lived, so he knew the area well. After a while, the weather gradually grew warmer and the amount of snow decreased. They turned south once they exited the forest and soon the snow vanished all together.

They entered the edge of the mountain range and seemed to get turned around about halfway through. Roy seemed to be getting more jumpy by the second. It didn't seem like he was used to getting lost at this point in his career. At least, that's what they initially thought before they found themselves at a dead end. Up until then, Aamira hadn't sensed their aura at all.

"I'm really sorry for this." Roy said. "But they promised me a lead on where my brother was if I led you two out of hiding."

Rhyperior walked up behind them, taking up a good portion of the only way out of the valley. The ground shook and his Rhyhorn dug up out of the ground around them. They were surrounded.

"That's good work." Rhyperior said. "And I will give you a lead once we get one."

"What?" Roy shouted. "You made me assume you already had a lead!"

"You assumed." Rhyperior said. "I never said I had a lead. If you know better, you'll stand aside and let this capture proceed normally. If you fight the police, you become an outlaw too."

Roy growled at them, hardly able to believe some agent of justice would con him like that.

"I understand your reason for doing this." Aamira said. "Just a minor inconvenience, if you think of it that way. We'll just knock these guys out and continue on our way."

"It's strange, but when we first became fugitives we agreed not to run if we got cornered!" Quill said. "But we've been hearing all sorts of things about Rhyperior in the paper. No way am I getting caught by his team."

Roy hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to be a fugitive, but he had to agree that Rhyperior had become more of a con artist than a police chief lately. He had been so blinded by the idea of finding his younger brother that he never stopped to consider that he was being conned too. "Alright, I'm with you."


	50. Chapter 50 Reality's Distortion

The Rhyhorn attacked first. They weren't as strong as would be imagined, being made out of stone. Being a fire type, Quill didn't even have any trouble with them. The entire time, Rhyperior stood there, not helping his forces at all even when they asked for his assistance. He kept his eye on Aamira the entire time until the battle was over.

"I would say I'm impressed, but at this point lying wouldn't have much merit. I would expect no less from Team Sleuth and Team Sandstone." He said. "However, you still have one opponent remaining, do you not?"

Rhyperior raised his hand towards Aamira. She had seen how he could fire rocks from his hands at blinding speed and knew better than to underestimate him and his speed and strength. She formed and Aura Sphere between her hands and waited for him to make the first move. She knew his attacks were fast, but she was confident that hers could be faster. She could easily smash the rock he fired with one Aura Sphere and then hit him with a second one.

Rhyperior fired two rocks from his palms in quick succession. Aamira knew he was fast, but didn't know he could fire more than one rock at a time like this. She managed to destroy one with Aura Sphere, but the second hit her raised hands, sending a shock up her arms. It occurred to her that if he wanted to, he could have broken both of her arms just then.

"You're holding back…" Aamira observed.

Rhyperior laughed. "Realized that, did you? I'm not going to arrest you or do anything of the sort. You're free to go."

"Captain!" One of the barely conscious Rhyhorn shouted.

Rhyperior ignored him. "You just remember, Aamira Brighteyes, the next time we meet that I already managed to corner you once. Of course with their help you may have been able to force your way out, but you won't have their help the next time."

Rhyperior lowered his arm and suddenly vanished in a blinding flash of light. Something occurred to Aamira that she dreaded could be true. She ran over to the Rhyhorn who had spoken before.

"Why can't I sense your aura?" She asked.

The Rhyhorn, who had no doubt lost all trust in his Captain after being abandoned like this, spit out the white stone he had been hiding in his mouth. "He said that these would make it impossible for you to beat us. We didn't understand it, but it must have been what was hiding our aura from you. You weren't the ones who stole all of that stuff and attacked those people after all, were you? I'm sorry we followed Rhyperior in pursuit of you so blindly."

"Wait, back up." Aamira said. "What's this about attacking people?"

"You don't even know about that?" Rhyhorn asked. "Figures. We have been blind. Rhyperior must have planted the evidence in your room and made up rumors about you two attacking people. I don't understand why he did it. I'm so sorry…"

All of the other Rhyhorn were looking up at them with the same remorseful look. Aamira was suspicious at first but after a while she took some Oran Berries out of her bag and sat them on the ground. "Come eat these once we're out of sight. I don't trust you entirely yet."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Roy asked. "I still feel bad for tricking you two like that."

"Yea, my arms are just a little numb. I'm sure either of us would have done the same."

Quill nodded. "You're our friend, right? We probably would have even done the same if it was you we were trying to find."

"Thanks. I still feel kinda bad about it though." Roy said. "So should we continue to Sylva?"

The two of them nodded and followed him out of the valley. Around nightfall, they finally made their way out of the mountains. They decided to spend the night near the edge of the forest and woke up early the next morning to continue on their way. They reached Treetop Town first and it was evident right away that something was terribly wrong. Normally there were always people bustling about through the vine bridges and Treehouses and bird pokemon flying here and there. Now there was no one here and it was strangely quiet.

"Something feels wrong." Quill said. "I'm more sensitive to the aura in the forest, right? Well this doesn't feel like Sylva."

"It's not just because all of the people are gone?" Roy asked. "Where do you think everyone went?"

"Well there was that tribe that lives further in the forest that they were having trouble with, right?" Aamira asked. "So maybe something else happened involving them. If that's the case they'd probably all go to Vine City since that's where Noctowl lives."

"So we should just continue on…" Quill said uneasily. "It still seems weird though. It makes the fur on my back stand on end…"

"Something really does seem strange here…" Roy said. "It almost feels like something's happened to the forest itself."

"I hope Celebi's okay since he's the forest's guardian." Aamira said. "We should stop by Lake Harmony first just to make sure."

It was around noon when they reached Lake Harmony. Unsurprisingly, it was the only place in the forest that seemed normal to Quill. They noticed something shining in the middle of the lake and when they looked down into the water, they saw Celebi curled up near the bottom, glowing faintly in the same color as the Root of Time.

"Looks like he's alright, just in a trance of some sort." Aamira said. "We should check everyone else in the city."

At first they didn't see anyone around. Unfortunately, the first person they came across was Espeon. They found her in a house near the outside of the main square. She had her arms wrapped around her new egg as if trying to protect it and wasn't moving at all. Quill tried to wake her up by shaking her shoulder, but she felt almost as if she was made of stone.

Out in the main Square, the found a few of the shopkeepers and other people who had been going about their business that day huddled in fear in the center of the square, all in the same petrified state. At town hall they found Noctowl in a similar position. He was stationary in the air with his talons outstretched as if in mid-attack.

They moved on to the Academy where they found an even worse sight. Alakazam was collapsed on the ground, no doubt after having been knocked out by a strong enemy. All of the children in the academy were standing in front of him, holding hands, and trying to protect him from the attackers. They looked so fearless the way they were frozen there.

"What's happened here?" Quill asked as he forced back tears.

"I don't know." Aamira said. "It's nothing good though. I bet that tribe further in the forest has something to do with this. There could be a way to save everyone if we go to find them."

"I don't know where they live though" Quill said. "Kids are always told to stay out of the eastern part of the forest and we were never given a reason to go there. Everyone usually avoids it mainly out of habit. I don't even know what kind of pokemon make up the tribe."

"Uh… I hate to interrupt, but…" Roy pointed behind them. "Could it be one of them?"

Aamira and Quill turned around to see a Stantler with its face, antlers, and back covered in colorful war paint. She stared at them for a moment before coming a step closer. "You shouldn't be here! This forest has been reclaimed by the Stantler Tribe! Leave now or there will be trouble!"

"What do you mean by the forest being reclaimed?" Aamira asked. "What did you do to everyone here?"

"We did nothing." She said. "Though we would have if the sprite hadn't interfered. Celebi went to sleep in the heart of the lake and froze time for everyone in the forest. He was a fool if he thought that would work on us though. We are beings that exist outside the normal boundaries of time and space. We have allowed the citizens of Sylva to live here for hundreds of years under the condition that they would not invade our territory. I see that two of you have lived here previously. Would you know anything about this transgression?"

"Transgression?" Quill said. "We wouldn't know anything about that. We left some time before all of this trouble with your tribe and we hadn't heard anything of the trouble starting back up."

"This trouble you speak of never truly ended." Stantler said. "Your Dragonite asked us to investigate further into whether it was indeed someone living in Sylva who had intruded. We've done some more research as he asked and found that while the intruder was not naturally born here that they had been harbored here for quite some time. While it is true that this pokemon left the forest soon after the intrusion, we have discovered that this pokemon had stayed here for some time after and have concluded that they had not been exiled as we had hoped."

"So you know the pokemon who was behind the intrusion then?" Roy asked.

"I cannot say, but my father, the village elder, would know the second he saw them." Her ears perked up and she turned to look behind her. "Speaking of my father, it seems he's come to check on my progress of scouting this little village."

They nearly jumped when they saw the size of the Stantler that emerged from the trees. He was at least twice the size of his daughter and he looked ancient. The antlers on his head were huge and much more branched out than any other Stantler's. Old lichen and other mosses hung from his antlers. The orbs in the center of his antlers were much bigger proportionally than other Stantler as well. Staring at them made Aamira feel uncomfortable, as if they were drawing her into their centers, and yet she couldn't force herself to look away, or move at all for that matter.

The ancient Stantler bent his neck so he was at eye level with them, though none of them were capable of looking him in the eye. There seemed to be something moving behind those orbs, but they couldn't make out what it was.

Before any of them knew what was happening, they had collapsed on the ground without realizing. The elder stomped on the ground a few times and some more Stantler emerged from the trees. Though he had stepped away, all they could see were the orbs directly in front of their faces. They could just barely make out the other Stantler approaching, but soon they were aware of nothing else.

They woke up later that night, if waking up was the right word for it. They were in a village that they had never seen before that was filled with Stantler, all painted the same way the Elder's daughter had been. Some of them had feathers or some varying types of plants tied to their antlers, which, as far as they could tell, was used to tell a Stantler's ranking in their tribe.

Had they been asleep though? It was more like a trance if anything. Vague flashes of memory came back from events happening throughout the day, but they were too dazed to make any sense of any of it. It took them a while to realize they had been tied up near the center of the village for some reason. They were all sure they had never been to this forest before, and yet maybe they still thought that one of them was the intruder.

"Awake, I see." The Stantler they had met before approached them. "Welcome to Illusion Forest. I never would have suspected that one of you would be the intruder. You seemed nice enough at first."

"We've never intruded…" Quill managed to say. "What about you, Roy?"

Roy shook his head. "No, I've never been here. I've never gone any farther into the forest than Vine City before."

"You two we found to be the friends of the transgressor. Your friend here, the female Riolu, is the intruder."

"Who, me?" Aamira asked. "I've never been here either though. I haven't stayed in Sylva long enough to even bother exploring this far in before. Unless I was sleepwalking, I think there's been some kind of mistake."

"There is no mistake." Stantler said. "It was apparent by the scars on your arm. You got those from a being of our territory. Our territory extends much farther than this little area of the forest as you think it might."

Something occurred to Aamira then, but if it was true then she had no idea how they would get out of this mess. "A little over two years ago, I appeared near Celebi's lake with amnesia. I suppose it might be possible that I could have intruded somehow before then. If I did I'm really sorry and I don't know why I would have, but it won't happen again."

"Those who enter our territory are forever drawn to our territory. Those are my father's words that he has spoken for hundreds of years and they have never proven false. As for your claim, though we exist outside of time and space as you know it, we are extremely adept at perceiving time. The intrusion was over a year ago, but nowhere near the two year mark you have set for yourself."

"Aamira, the scars!" Quill said. "Remember? You appeared back at the lake with those scars even though you were supposed to have disappeared. Maybe you were in their territory somehow for those two months you vanished."

"Two months is a relative time frame. It was around this time that the intruder hid in our territory. It is you without a doubt."

"So if that's true, what do we have to do with this?" Roy asked.

"Another friend of yours has invaded on our territory recently. A Sandshrew with clouded eyes and claw-like scars on his back."

"My brother!" Roy shouted. "He's here? Where is he!"

"You do not listen well." Stantler observed. "Our territory extends much farther from here. Your brother is nowhere near our present location. To answer your question, many times in the past the friends and, more often, relatives of intruders tent to invade our space after one of them does."

"So what are you going to do with us then?" Aamira asked.

"I see the trance has kept you from observing our decision that we made a few hours ago. Intruders are not often much of a threat so long as they don't leave our territory afterwards."

"So you're just going to keep us tied up here?" Quill asked.

"No. This is only the physical plane of our territory. You and your friends will be sent to the farthest reaches of the Other part of our territory."

"Where is the other part of your territory?" Aamira asked.

"Don't you ever listen?" She asked impatiently. "It's in the Other part. I would have thought you would be able to figure it out on your own, but it won't matter for long. It's nearly midnight so my father will be sending you on your way momentarily."

What they had thought was a large hill at the back of the village was actually their elder curled up on the ground. He was masked so well by the fungi growing along his back and antlers that they weren't aware of his presence until he moved. That was one thing about the Stantler that Aamira didn't like. As if Rhyperior and the Rhyhorn weren't bad enough, she couldn't sense their aura either. It was different though, as if they didn't even exist. She guessed by the way Roy jumped when the elder Stantler moved that he felt the same way about this.

He stood up to his full height, his ancient bones creaking as he did so, and stepped over the fire at the center of the village to approach them. All of the other Stantler stopped what they were doing to watch.

He lowered his horns to them as if about to attack, though the moment he did they were transfixed by the orbs in their centers once again. Again, Aamira thought she saw something move behind the orbs and she felt a strong pulling sensation as if her mind was being drawn in. She got an overpowering urge as if someone was calling her from inside the orbs and for a moment she wanted nothing more than to join that person.

She had no idea how long she had been in a trance this time. She was only aware that the ropes binding her hands together were gone and that she was no longer in the Stantler village, or anywhere near Sylva for that matter. It was still night, but the stars weren't the same ones she was used to. It took her a while to realize that something was amiss. Quill and Roy were nowhere to be seen. Either the Stantler reconsidered their decision to send them as well, or all three of them had been separated.

"Are you okay…?" a timid voice asked from somewhere.

Aamira stood up and looked around. She was in a forest, but the leaves and grass had a strange, bluish tint to them and it didn't smell or feel anything like Sylva or the Illusion Forest.

"You're not one of those bad shadow pokemon, are you…?" A little Ralts poked its head out from behind a mossy stone to look at Aamira. "You don't look like one of them, but those scars are pretty scary."

Aamira looked down at her scars. If anything, they seemed even worse than before. She had given up on hiding them with a bandage after being isolated from other people for so long, but she still managed to forget they were there most of the time.

"Do you know anything about these scars?" Aamira asked. "Or where we are for that matter?"

"No I don't, but a lot of the shadow pokemon I've seen have scars kind of like those. You have dark energy too. I thought you might be one of them."

Aamira hadn't heard about shadow pokemon since she was in Atra. She looked up at the sky again and noticed that there were two moons like Atra supposedly had, but she noticed some light on the horizon and figured that whatever world she ended up in, this one must have a sun too.

"So how did you get here?" she asked.

Ralts shook his head. "I'm not sure. I was looking for a way back home to visit my mom and just ended up here somehow. Ever since I got here, pokemon have been attacking me left and right. It's nice to see a friendly face for once. Can we stay together? You seem like you'd be strong enough to fight off the stronger pokemon."

"Yea, why not." Aamira said.

She had no idea who this Ralts was or how old he was exactly, but she felt better having him around. At least this way she wasn't entirely alone in a world she didn't know. Ralts showed her some of the fruits that grew in this world, which tasted nothing like the ones she was used to. The most common was a weird brown fruit that looked almost like a potato both on the inside and outside but tasted really sweet. He didn't know what it was called, but was pretty sure it wasn't poisonous.

The next morning, Aamira was in for a surprise. As it turned out, that world didn't only have two moons and a sun; it had two moons and three suns that all seemed to rise at the same time. Ralts said that it wasn't necessarily the case and that it was only recently that the times for the suns to rise had started to synchronized. At noon they would nearly cross the paths of the others, but they didn't come quite that close. As far as Aamira could tell, it seemed like two of the suns were part of a binary star system like Desolo's suns and the third one was a much bigger star that both the two suns and this world revolved around together. She couldn't be sure though.

"As far as I know, this world isn't even round." Ralts said as they walked through the forest together. "Sometimes I can wander around for hours and somehow always end up back where I started. I've tried marking the path before and I keep ending up right back where I started without changing direction. There were times when I thought I was walking vertically up mountains. Or maybe the trees were just growing horizontally. It's all really strange."

"I guess horizontal trees could be possible because of the multiple suns." Aamira said. "Their roots might grow a certain way to keep them from falling."

"I don't know. They don't look any different from regular trees. I think that gravity is just different in certain places or something. This place is just really weird. I've been looking for a way to get home, but so far haven't found anything. Sometimes there will be a giant serpent dragon thing flying in the sky that just disappears, so there might be a way to get out through the sky."

"Yea, maybe…" Aamira said. "I came here through a place called Illusion Forest, so for a while I didn't think this place was even real. There's something about it that's sort of dreamlike. It does feel real though."

"Oh, that's another thing! Maybe you're not used to having dreams so you didn't notice or maybe it's just me, but I haven't had a single dream since coming here."

Aamira hadn't even noticed. She still had nightmares sometimes, but the previous night she hadn't had a single dream. Maybe that was only a one time occurrence, but everything about this world seemed strange. She wished she knew where Quill and Roy were, but they could be miles away for all she knew.

They were attacked several times throughout the day by pokemon who really did resemble shadow pokemon, though there seemed to be some differences too. For starters, they seemed to still have their own will, though they were violent and in no mood to talk. Almost like dungeon pokemon except typically stronger and smarter.

Aamira could barely keep up with all of the sudden attacks, but Ralts said that these pokemon weren't nearly as bad as one in particular that had been following him. Unfortunately, he didn't know what kind of pokemon it was. He shuddered when she asked him to describe what it looked like and only said that she'd know it when she saw it.

Ralts stopped and looked around in a panic. "It's here! That pokemon that was chasing me! It's here!"

Aamira could sense it too. A sudden wave of fear washed over her as if she was at that point trapped inside of one of her nightmares. It felt so strong that she half expected to wake up from a nightmare any second and be back in her bed in the Investigator's Brigade building. They would still be in Ignis and it would be the day after the finals. Espeon and her siblings would throw a huge party for them and they would watch the fireworks on the last day of the festival together. That had to be it. There was no way this fear was coming from something real.

A shadow appeared on the ground and a figure slowly rose out of it. Aamira nearly screamed in her panic. She had never been this badly affected by any pokemon before. There was something seriously wrong with this one. Its body was as dark as midnight and on its head was what seemed to be wisps of white smoke that moved slowly as if underwater. Its head was ringed by large spikes that resembled huge red teeth. The most terrifying thing of all where the familiar blue eyes.

Aamira didn't know how she couldn't have figured it out before. Ruko had even mentioned that in the legend she was said to carry around the villain's treasure. Her hand instinctively moved to the Nightmare Gem around her neck. It seemed so obvious now, why she had been having all of these nightmares. And yet until now she had never remembered this pokemon's name. No doubt, if this pokemon really was Honchkrow's boss, it had been able to manipulate her memory using the chain links stolen from Uxie so she couldn't remember its name, even though she remembered every other legendary pokemon up until this point.

"D-Darkrai…" she stammered.

Darkrai glanced at her for a moment then back to Ralts. Ralts screamed and Teleported away just as Darkrai attacked him with Dark Pulse, leaving Aamira alone with him. At first Darkrai moved forward as if in pursuit of the Ralts, but then apparently he changed his mind and turned back towards Aamira.

"You've returned." He spoke in the same inaudible voice as in her dreams. She still couldn't understand how she could understand him when he made no sound when he spoke. "To think you didn't abandon this world after all."

Aamira took a step back as Darkrai moved towards her. She was so terrified that it felt like she had no control over her own motions or her words. For the first time, she started to doubt whether she could do this. She remembered how Rhyperior had mentioned that she could have powered her way out of getting cornered, but only with her friends help. Maybe she hadn't been cornered by him again, but this was at least a few thousand times worse.

"Do not back away!" Darkrai moved towards her faster and reached out a hand, which she assumed was for another attack. Aamira was too petrified to move to her own defense. Luckily there was no reason to defend herself.

At the last minute, and Aura Sphere hit Darkrai in the back. He turned to stare at the pokemon who had attacked him. As soon as the eye contact was broken, Aamira felt the overwhelming fear lessen, though it was nowhere close to going away all together. When she saw who her rescuer was, however, it might as well have.

Standing in the shadows of the trees at the edge of the forest was Lucario. Aside from a small scratch on the right side of his face, he looked okay. Either he hadn't run into many enemies or he hadn't been free from the Aura Scepter for long. How he got out in the first place was a mystery, but Aamira wasn't going to complain.

Lucario stayed in the same position to prepare for another attack if Darkrai were to try anything. Darkrai lowered his head slightly and floated backwards into the shadows and disappeared. With the overwhelming sense of fear gone, Aamira fell to her knees and tried desperately to catch her breath.

"Are you alright, Aamira?" Lucario asked.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?"

At first Aamira wondered if she was still having trouble controlling her voice and had spoken without meaning to. She realized though that the voice hadn't come from her mouth, but from behind her. Aamira stood up and turned to come face to face with… herself.


	51. Chapter 51 The Final Seal

Aamira had no idea what was going on. By the looks of it, her double seemed equally shocked, as did Lucario. Her double looked exactly how she had prior to Desolo. Her eyes were orange, she had no scars on her arm, though the white spot in the bone on the back of her hand was there, and while she didn't have Lucario's cloak or the Nightmare Gem, she did have Aamira's old scarf with the Aura Readers' symbol. At least now she knew what happened to it.

"Another nightmare, I presume." Lucario said. "Tell your boss that we're not going to have it! If Darkrai or any of your fellow minions continues to chase Aamira, next time I'll do more than just an Aura Sphere to the back!"

Aamira was so shocked that she was caught off guard for a second and couldn't speak right away. "Hold on a second! I'm the real Aamira! I've been seeing you in dreams for months, but then it suddenly stopped. I guess the reason was because you got out of the Aura Scepter."

"And I was the one who freed him." The imposter said, taking a step towards Aamira. "If you were the real Aamira, you would have done the same!"

"Would I?" Aamira said. "I know that keeping Mismagius trapped inside is an important job, even if it did mean that Lucario was trapped inside too. I know that releasing Lucario wouldn't be the right thing to do, which is why I never looked for Shaymin to get the Aura Scepter back."

"That's enough!" Lucario shouted at both of them. "A lookalike with dark aura? Do you really think that just because this nightmare can talk that it would make it any more believable?"

"It really is me though!" Aamira said. "I just reappeared with dark aura and didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you worrying. I'm something called a Dark Reader now. Aside from having dark aura, I don't really know what the difference is though. Dark aura or not though, I'm still me and I know everything that I would know. Just ask me anything and I'll prove it!"

"Why even waste our time?" The imposter asked Lucario. "Darkrai's been sending these nightmares after me ever since he kidnapped Quill and I managed to escape by the furs on my tail. If she's the real me, that would make me an imposter, right? Shouldn't you have figured it out by now if that was true?"

"Of course their have been some inconsistencies with your behavior…" Lucario admitted. "That would be expected after being apart for so long though. Either way, if all this nightmare wants to do is take a test, what's the harm? If it will satisfy her, then why don't you participate too?"

"I guess…" The imposter said. "We have to hurry though! We were supposed to get to Starlight Cavern by nightfall or it's going to be sealed for another month!"

"I know." Lucario went quiet for a while to think of some questions to ask the two of them. The two Aamiras didn't take their eyes off of each other the entire time. "Alright, the first question's for the Aamira with the dark aura. Who were you named after and who named you?"

"You gave me my name and it was the name of the first Shade who was one of your ancestors." Aamira answered.

Lucario nodded, though he seemed somewhat concerned by it, most likely because it proved that this supposed nightmare with the dark aura might actually be Aamira. He turned to the imposter. "Who was the first person I hit with Aura Sphere the first time we were reunited after you lost your memory"

"Croconaw!" The imposter said.

Was it? Aamira couldn't even remember. Up until Celestial Tower, Team Rapids had never been much of a threat. She hadn't paid much attention to which one of them had been hit, only the aftermath of the attack.

Lucario nodded again and turned back to Aamira. "What did you say to Mismagius that eventually led to us becoming friends back when you were still human?"

Another tough one. Lucario had mentioned it before, even if she couldn't actually remember it, but that had been back in Atra and there had been so much going on at the time. "Uh… I said I had my own reason for coming to Atra and I didn't need a sassy ghost pokemon telling me what was what."

Lucario hid a smile and nodded. No doubt that was still a fond memory for him, even after all of this time. He turned back to the imposter. "What were the three names given to the lake where Quill found you?"

"The Lake of Life, Shroud Lake, and Lake Harmony." The imposter said. "I'm still somewhat partial to Shroud Lake though."

There was obviously something strange about this imposter. She knew a lot of the things that Aamira knew, but that wasn't really the strange part. It had something to do with the first question Lucario asked her. She tried to remember what exactly happened back then, and finally realized what it was.

"Now hold on a second!" Aamira shouted at Lucario. "That first question you asked her about your Aura Sphere was a little funny."

"How so?" Lucario asked.

"I'll answer with a question I suppose and see if you remember this. What did Crawdaunt shout at me before you attacked her and Croconaw?"

Apparently Lucario was having some difficulty remembering that far back just as she had been. It had been nearly two years ago that this happened, but being stuck in some sort of pocket dimension, it could have felt like decades for Lucario. "She shouted at you… telling you not to turn your back on… Your back was turned."

"Exactly!" Aamira said. "I couldn't have known that you hit Croconaw first. It couldn't have been a guess either since I would have assumed it had been Crawdaunt since she had been the one that yelled at me."

Lucario looked unsure now, but the imposter quickly cut in. "Don't be ridiculous! Of course my back was turned but I could sense that his Aura Sphere hit Croconaw. It's perfectly reasonable that I'd know who it hit first."

Aamira stared at her double, wondering why they would be so desperate that they would accidentally back themselves into a corner like this. "But Lucario was my first teacher. Before then I didn't have any formal training with aura. I barely managed to learn how to control Aura Sphere on my own and I was nowhere close to figuring out how to sense aura."

"Really? I would have assumed you could sense aura even then." It took the imposter a second to realize what she said. "I mean that… it was kind of a long time ago, so I wasn't sure if I could or not…"

It should have been obvious who the imposter was now, but Lucario seemed to be in denial. "You can't be the real Aamira… Back in Desolo, you begged me not to use Dark Pulse again because it scared you so much. Someone like you could never resort to using dark aura."

"Maybe…" Aamira said. "Like I said before, I don't know how I became a Dark Reader. I was scared then because of how you lost control of yourself for a moment. It's happened to me a couple of times too and it really is scary just to experience it. I haven't changed though! Just because my aura is dark now doesn't mean I'm a different person or anything!"

"This is… almost touching." The imposter untied Aamira's scarf from around her neck and took out a familiar white stone that she had been hiding inside of it. "It's true that I really am a nightmare created by Darkrai. Master made my aura in an imitation of how Aamira's was at first and sent other nightmares with dark aura after us to mislead you."

"Why did you go through all of that trouble?" Lucario asked.

"Because you're part of the legend!" the imposter said. "Master needs you especially. He's not happy with Aamira for breaking their agreement, so of course he would be after you and Quill as her punishment. I convinced Shaymin to let me unseal you from the Aura Scepter and used that story about Quill being kidnapped by Darkrai as a rouse to lead you into a trap. Of course, my abilities and strengths are a perfect imitation of Aamira's from the time you were at Desolo, so it's not like I can just knock you out and take you back with me now. Both of you two together, even one of you for that matter, would defeat me easily. Master won't be happy, but I'll give up."

She tossed Aamira's scarf back to her and a second later used the stone to teleport away. Aamira didn't know whether to feel relieved, mad, or just confused. From what she gathered, Darkrai had the ability to create nightmares, which were like every other pokemon except that they most likely had no free will and had to follow all of his commands. No doubt they would meet more of them. If what the Aamira nightmare said about Darkrai being after Lucario and Quill was true though, then Quill really was in danger. At the very least, as far as she knew anyway, he hadn't been kidnapped by Darkrai as he had been in the imposter's story.

"It's still so hard to accept though…" Lucario said. "I had noticed so many inconsistencies and even had some suspicions, but I guess I really wanted to believe that the nightmare was really you. Come to think of it, when you appeared sometimes while I was in the Aura Scepter, you did have red eyes and a bandaged arm. I couldn't sense your aura though since you were still in a different dimension than me, so I never would have thought you would turn to darkness…"

"You talk like it's a bad thing!" Aamira said. "Like I said, I didn't turn to darkness, it just sort of happened." She regretted saying this almost immediately. Of course he wouldn't like darkness and of course he would associate it with evil because of Mismagius. Her aura was dark too, meaning she was most likely also a Dark Reader. "I'm sorry… Quill and I along with Roy were separated when we came to this world. As far as I know they haven't been captured, but I should probably look for them… You could help me or go off on your own. I don't really care either way."

Lucario sighed. "Of course you care. Wandering alone in a world you don't know? I'll go with you at least until we find Quill. I'll need some time to think to decide what to do after that though…"

Aamira nodded. "I understand… I guess."

After a while of discussing, they decided that the best thing to do was risk Starlight Cavern since it was only open one a month. According to Lucario, every world had slightly different rules that it followed. Apparently this world was like an endless loop, though Aamira didn't really understand how that was possible. Anyone living here would just keep walking around infinitely until they find a way out of the area they're in. The world was apparently divided up into sectors by the geographical boundaries caused by cliffs, mountains, canyons, rivers, and anything else. There were some areas that weren't like these sectors where you could just walk right through, but for the most part in order to keep from ending up right back where you started, it was necessary to find a certain door, most often through a dungeon, that would lead to a different sector.

Lucario and the fake Aamira had found that the doorway out of this sector was most likely in Starlight Cavern. If they didn't get there by nightfall, they would be stuck in this area for another month until the entrance reopened. In spite of this, because the nightmare knew about this, she most likely informed Darkrai. That meant that there was most likely a trap waiting for them somewhere along the way.

Just as Ralts had said, there were shadow pokemon in this world along with nightmares in addition to the regular dungeon pokemon. Luckily Lucario had no trouble telling them apart since both shadow pokemon and nightmares had dark aura. This made Aamira feel even more uncomfortable than before.

Near the center of the dungeon, Lucario was cornered by two dungeon pokemon so Aamira was left to fight a stronger shadow pokemon on her own. The Golbat used Air Slash and Aamira raised her arms to block it. She flinched back and for a second she couldn't move. It took her a while to realize that her abilities weren't working they way they should.

She barely managed to dodge the next attack and counter attacked with Aura Sphere and knocked it out. "What just happened…?"

"I told you this world has different rules." Lucario had already defeated the two pokemon he had been fighting. "Our abilities don't work the way they're supposed to. Instead you have one called Prankster, which increases the speed of non-offensive attacks and… The one I have is called Justified… Which gives me an increase in power from being hit with a dark type move."

"So I could hit you with Sucker Punch and it would make you stronger?" Aamira asked.

Lucario wasn't very amused by this. "Where did you learn an attack like that?"

"From an old Lucario named Ruko." Aamira said. "You knew who Hunter was so maybe you know him too? He took me to this island inhabited by Wynaut and Wobbuffet to train and I just sort of learned it. I didn't like using it at first because I didn't like having dark aura, but I've grown used to it over the past few months."

"Ruko, you say?" Lucario turned away and kept walking, somewhat faster than before. It seemed like he was thinking of something serious that either made him scared or excited. Aamira couldn't tell.

They continued it silence for a while longer. It felt strange exploring a dungeon with Lucario without Quill around. They had trained alone before, but as far as partners went, Aamira realized that she and Quill made a much better combination for this sort of thing.

Every now and then Aamira would try to talk to Lucario about various things such as places she and Quill had investigated and how they had been framed in Ignis. He would give a reply in a few words every now and then, but he mostly kept quiet. Aamira couldn't tell if she was supposed to feel angry or awkward about any of this. It really felt like Lucario had shut her out entirely for some reason. Maybe he was mad, though she hadn't done anything to cause it.

They reached the dungeon's midpoint and Lucario scanned the area to make sure that enemies weren't hiding in the shadows anywhere. "It looks safe enough. The way forward only opens in the morning when the entrance to the main part of the dungeon closes. We might as well get some sleep before then."

Aamira nodded and curled up near the curved wall of the chamber. Lucario sat up against it on the opposite side of the room. He didn't need to sleep often due to a secret technique that allowed him to restore energy by tapping into the planet's natural energy. It had gotten easier to do after returning to Atra, he noticed, prior to when they helped fix the aura distortion and when the imposter Aamira released him from the scepter. When they got to this world, he found that he didn't need to sleep at all, though Aamira still seemed to prefer to. She had said once before that while being able to borrow energy from the ground was useful, that it didn't come close to actual sleep. That apparently hadn't changed.

Though Lucario was having mixed feelings on whether or not to trust Aamira, after all her aura had turned dark for apparently no reason and he already found out that the first one was a fake, he decided to try to sleep too. Even in a world without dreams, it was still more energizing than just using the world's energy.

He had almost fallen asleep when his ear twitched from hearing a familiar sound. He opened one eye partially and saw Aamira sitting up again with her back turned to him. He didn't need to see to know what she was doing. How she got her music box back from Atra he didn't know, but he also noticed that she was holding her Aura Glass. No doubt she was thinking of Quill now. Even if he hadn't been captured by Darkrai, she would no doubt be worried about him. Maybe Aamira hadn't changed so much after all.

Lucario almost had to smile. For a second he could have sworn he could picture her as a human again. He remembered the first night she had shown up in Atra. She had been hurt and Mismagius sent him up to check on her. Aamira was staying in the same room that she and Quill had stayed in later on. When he got there the door was partially cracked and she was sitting on the side of her bed with her back facing the door, the music box in her lap, and holding Daisy the Banette doll in place of the Aura Glass she had now. For about the hundredth time, he had to wonder where she had gotten Daisy from.

Lucario also noticed that her Aura Glass was the unique form for Master Rank teams. She and Quill really had been busy. He felt suddenly conscious of his bag that he had sat next to him, which had his own Master Rank Aura Glass in it. He had been awarded it a long time ago by Fearow, the elder of Pacis, at Special Services headquarters. He wondered if she and Quill had ever heard of the things he had to go through to get it, since he wasn't even an official Investigation Team member, or if they even knew about his Master Rank. Probably not. They mist have been just as busy as he had been back then to get the Master rank themselves.

Still, what a strange thing to think of. To be thinking about how he had first seen Aamira when they first met and then suddenly start to think about Investigation Team rankings. Maybe it was just because, even though she now had dark aura, Lucario could always feel relaxed knowing she was around to watch his back.

Lucario closed his eyes again in an attempt to get back to sleep. 'Come to think of it, I didn't trust her back then either. I thought Mismagius was setting a trap and I became paranoid. When I found out she was Mismagius's niece, I thought my fears had been confirmed even after we had become friends and I ended up abandoning her in the middle of nowhere, which resulted in her getting captured. After meeting her again, I was still so ashamed that I couldn't even tell her the truth of why I abandoned her back then. I guess this situation is no different. She doesn't know how her aura changed and she had no control over Mismagius being her aunt either. I suppose I should apologize tomorrow when we get out of the dungeon…'

And yet, as hard as Lucario tried to fall asleep, one thought kept interrupting him. 'Aamira said she met Ruko, but that can't be true, can it? He was supposed to have died years ago, and yet… the fact that she's learned an attack like Sucker Punch, which Riolu can't normally learn, means that she must have had a teacher of his caliber. I can't tell whether this is good or bad, but I'm sure that Ruko is up to something if this is in fact the same Ruko…'

Lucario woke up the next morning to find Aamira hastily packing up her music box. He guessed that she didn't want him to think she still needed it. Maybe it was because she now had her scarf back or because people didn't dream in this world, but Aamira felt that she didn't have to worry about nightmares now. It had become somewhat of a habit to fall asleep to the sound of the music box though and she found that it had been difficult getting to sleep without it. Lucario decided that, for her sake, he would pretend he hadn't seen anything.

"I don't see any new corridor." Aamira said.

"There wouldn't be." Lucario turned to face the corridor they had entered from. "This dungeon follows special rules too. The entrance opens by night and the exit by day. if we go back the way we came, when we come out through what was the entrance yesterday, we should be in a different sector."

"Is that so?" Aamira asked. "Dungeons alone are so complicated and all have strange rules, but the ones in this world seem even worse. I guess its part of the mystery though, right? I think I kind of like this dungeon. The way it was so dark and hard to see at night and now that it's daytime it's so bright even though there's no light source. Something about it kind of reminds me of the tree that Quill and I had been living in for a while."

"Living in another tree after your first one burned down?" Lucario asked.

"Well this time it's more of a burrow under a hollow tree." Aamira was glad that Lucario was having an easier time of talking to her again. "That's not important though. Maybe it's the nostalgia from staying there not long ago, but I feel like Quill might be on the other side if we keep going."

Aamira ran off ahead and Lucario followed a few steps behind. "About what you said yesterday, what does that Ruko person look like?"

"He was really old with dull fur that's greying around the edges of his muzzle, and his fur was a little longer and more wild looking than what's typical for a Lucario. He seemed shorter too, but that's probably because he was almost always hunched over. His eyes were kind of squinted, which I assumed was due to bad eyesight since he had glasses too. He had to walk with a cane that looked kind of like a twisted tree root, but he didn't really need it." Aamira rubbed her head, remembering all of the times he had hit her in the head with it when training. "I really underestimated him because of the cane at first. Big mistake."

"So he's a really old Lucario then?" Lucario asked.

"Yea, though he doesn't act like it. I can't really tell how old he is, but he looks really old. I thought you might know him since you mentioned meeting Hunter once and they know each other somehow."

"I thought I might have." Lucario replied. "He doesn't sound anything like the Ruko I knew though. It's not an entirely uncommon name for a Lucario I suppose.

Lucario was quiet for a while, which Aamira found strange after he had finally started talking. "What is it?"

"I was just thinking you're acting a lot more childish. More like how you used to act before losing your memory."

"I acted childish then?" Aamira asked. 'He did mention that before actually. Though really I was just trying to act cheerful to get rid of some of the tension. So if I acted like this back then… No, I'm being silly. It doesn't mean anything.'

They found the dungeon's entrance, which was now the exit, and found themselves outside in a lifeless mountain range. The cave they had exited from was on the side of a steep cliff. They walked up to the edge of the cliff thinking there must be a way down when the ground started to shake. They heard the sound of rock breaking behind them and turned to see the dungeon being blocked by a large Steelix with a white stone tied around its neck. There was a flurry of wings and a group of six Murkrow landed near them by the edge of the cliff.

"Well, we expected an ambush." Aamira said. "Where's your boss, Honchkrow?"

"He'll be here in a few minutes." A Murkrow, who Aamira recognized as the little thief who had joined her team foe a short time, said. "Lucario convincing the double that Lord Darkrai made of you to leave the Aura Scepter with Shaymin proved slightly problematic. Legendary pokemon are no pushovers as I'm sure you know from experience."

"The Aura Scepter!" Lucario shouted. "Could it be that me being released was an accident?"

"Finally figured that out, did you?" Honchkrow swooped down and landed on the ground, slightly unsteadily, with the scepter clutched in his talons. "Who would have thought. By day this scepter is powered by darkness, and by night, powered by light."

"You're not seriously thinking of releasing Mismagius, are you!" Aamira said.

"Not at all." Honchkrow said. "I'm thinking that you'll be the one to do it. After all, while I can control dark energy as a result of being a dark type, I'm not an Aura Reader."

"You're even more insane than I thought if you think I'll do something like that!" Aamira snapped at him. "I should have known that this was all some sort of plot to get your old master back."

Honchkrow laughed so loud that the Murkrow on either side of him backed away slightly. "You seriously think that I originally worked for Mismagius! Honestly, I thought you were the leader of one of the world's greatest Investigation Teams! Darkrai is the only pokemon that one such as myself would ever bow to! To have not figured it out by now… I don't even understand it. Ninetales even gave you that book of hers!"

"The diary?" Aamira asked.

Honchkrow nodded. "She was the first to realize how many Honchkrow appeared throughout history, though she only got it half right. It wasn't my ancestor that turned your dear aunt's aura dark, it was me!"

"What!" Lucario and Aamira shouted at the same time.

"But that happened hundreds of years ago…" Aamira said. "How could it have been you, unless you actually lived that long?"

Honchkrow smirked. "That's just for you to find out, isn't it?"

"You're not a nightmare created by Darkrai, are you?" Lucario asked.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Honchkrow said with a dismissive wave of his wing. "Now are you going to help me with this little dilemma of mine, or will I have to force you to use the scepter?"

"What do you think?" Aamira growled.

"I expected no less from you." Honchkrow raised his wing. "Attack them!"

The Murkrow all attacked at once and every now and then the Steelix would join in. They were mostly able to fend off their attackers. The Murkrow were strong, but not nearly as strong as their boss. One of the Murkrow grabbed onto Lucario's shoulder while he was attacking another Murkrow. Before he could react to it, a third Murkrow rammed into him and pushed him off of the side of the cliff.

"Lucario!" Aamira knocked out the nearest Murkrow with Aura Sphere and ran after him, but the Steelix knocked her back with an attack with its tail.

Aamira struggled to stand up, but her arms were shaking so badly that she was having some difficulties. The remaining Murkrow attacked her all at once with the majority of their attacks being varieties of flying type attacks. They kept up their attack until Aamira was nearly too injured to move.

"Resistance is such foolishness at this point." Honchkrow said. "You've been separated from your partner and my Murkrow who pushed him over are still after him. No doubt that fall must have done some damage, even to a pokemon like him. He won't be able to run far or put up a fight for long. Now if you cooperate, I'll call them off. Don't think that the six who attacked you are the only Murkrow I have. You would know yourself that this isn't the case."

"Not giving me much of a choice, are you…?" Aamira stayed quiet for a few moments. Honchkrow allowed her to stall, no doubt confident that Lucario wouldn't be able to avoid the Murkrow forever. She was expecting Lucario to come jumping back up the cliff, dragging a couple of unconscious Murkrow with him, but this wasn't the case. "Fine, I'll do it."

The Murkrow backed away, giving her room to sit up, though she was still too weak to stand. Honchkrow threw the scepter to Aamira and she somehow managed to catch it. She figured that if Aura Seal had been what locked her inside the scepter that Aura Release would be what would get a person out. With her scarf back, she wouldn't have any trouble doing it.

She placed the bottom of the scepter on the ground the way Lucario had when he first sealed Mismagius inside of it and concentrated on it. While most seals felt to her like a single strand of aura blocking the way, this one felt more like a web. No doubt if she didn't break all of the seals in a specific order, the Pure Quartz at the top of the scepter would shatter and Mismagius would be trapped forever. She was half tempted to try it just to aggravate Honchkrow, but she knew he was right. He had many Murkrow following him and Lucario had to be injured from such a long drop. She hated to think what Honchkrow would do if she really did shatter the Pure Quartz.

Breaking them all in order was a challenge since they were all interwoven so intricately. Any Riolu would have trouble with it, though most likely a Lucario would actually be able to see the seals and would have an easier time of it. The longer she went on breaking the seals, the more her hands shook with fatigue. Finally there was only one left. Aamira could sense Mismagius behind it.

She hesitated for a second, but she knew that she couldn't afford to waste much more time. With what seemed like the last of her energy, the last seal was broken. Aamira screamed as the gemstone started to glow a dark and eerie color. So much energy was being radiated from it that Aamira was surprised that she wasn't thrown back. In fact, it was more like the scepter was holding onto her and making it impossible for her to let go.

Aamira was close to collapsing from exhaustion and had to hold onto the scepter, slightly hunched over, for support. The Murkrow shrieked and took to the sky as a black shadow shot out from scepter. The shadow stopped in front of Honchkrow and eventually managed to manifest into the form of Mismagius.

"It took you longer than I expected." Aamira hadn't heard Mismagius's voice in so long, but she hadn't expected it to send chills up her spine so badly. She looked over her shoulder at Aamira who was staring at the ground, shaking, and trying to catch her breath. "To think that a relative of mine would become another Dark Reader. And yet strangely enough, she can still use her abilities as an Aura Reader. How interesting."

Honchkrow bowed his head, putting on an act of loyalty. "That meddling Shaymin hid the scepter better than I would have expected. The scepter also worked differently than I would have expected and the first attempt to free you ended in freeing Lucario by accident. I apologize for the wait. Though you may be pleased to hear that the Murkrow are currently in pursuit of Lucario, who is no doubt badly injured. And of course, Aamira is here now as well."

"Yes, you've done well." Mismagius turned to look at Aamira, who was now just barely able to make eye contact. "And you, dear niece, have proven to be more trouble than you're worth."

"We had a deal, Honchkrow." Aamira said weakly. "I freed Mismagius, so call off your Murkrow from their attack on Lucario."

"Deal?" Mismagius said. "I'm afraid I was not apart of any such deal. Since Honchkrow works for me, I'm afraid I have every right to override any deals you have previously made with him without my knowledge. You don't seriously think I'm just going to let you two escape with your lives, are you? Unlike some, I have a habit of learning from past mistakes."

"I assume you would want to get rid of Aamira yourself?" Honchkrow asked while still in the same bowing position.

"But of course." Mismagius said. "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to regain any strength from our battle in Desolo while inside the scepter and my quarrels with Lucario while imprisoned haven't helped. Honchkrow, would you be a dear and do it for me?"

"You have no strength even to fight a weakened Riolu?" Honchkrow asked. "How very convenient."

Honchkrow straightened up and raised his wing again in a signal to attack. Realizing what was happening, Mismagius turned just as she was attacked by the remaining Murkrow. She tried to phase through the ground to escape, but one of them managed to make eye contact and trapped her with Mean Look. They started to peck and claw at the three rubies around her neck. Eventually one of them managed to pull out the larger one in the middle and the two smaller ones were pulled out shortly after. They ceased their attack and hopped over to stand next to their boss.

"What do you think, Aamira?" Honchkrow asked. "Think Mesprit hid her chain links in a good enough place? Obviously not if I could find them."

"The links of emotion…?" Aamira asked.

"'Hidden in a place across time and space guarded by an unaware guardian.' In the beginning I thought that it referred to Quill as the guardian since he had gone through time before and at the time didn't know he was an Aura Guardian. And yes, I know about Aura Guardians. I've known longer than either of you have. Though in spite of my suspicions, I realized that being associated with time travel wouldn't explain the 'across space' part. So I thought to myself, what sort of place could exist outside of time and space? The answer was obvious. A pocket dimension, such as the one inside of the Aura Scepter. Then I remembered the rubies around Mismagius's neck and how she had once mentioned Mesprit being the first pokemon she met after losing her memory. It seemed to be too great a coincidence. Of course, all Mismagius have gems such as these so I never suspected before! Genius, I must say. That annoying little lake spirit had the gems hidden right under my beak long ago."

"All along… They were Mesprit's chain links…" Mismagius was trembling on the ground. If possible, she seemed to be just as exhausted and in just as bad a shape as Aamira was. "Honchkrow, I never liked your cruel style. I'll admit I wasn't much better, but having you around made me sick."

"Those are some harsh words from you, 'boss'. Regardless, you are no longer a threat. You're no hero and I know you won't try to get revenge against me. As for you, Aamira, it's not time for you to come with us yet. I'll leave you here for now. If I were you, I'd try to get to the ocean. A little rodent you might know plummeted into the waves a couple of days ago. I hope for your sake that he's not in any trouble."

"What about Lucario…?" Aamira asked.

"He's no longer of any use to us." Honchkrow said. "In any instance, my Murkrow are probably too far out of range to hear me call them back. Whatever happens to him is no longer any of my concern. Goodbye for now, old friend." The Steelix guarding the dungeon's entrance burrowed under the ground and disappeared. Honchkrow flew off with his Murkrow following behind him with the chain links clamped in their beaks, leaving Aamira and Mismagius stranded, injured, and defenseless.

After a while, Aamira's muscles started to stiffen from sitting in the same position for so long. After some of her fatigue faded, she managed to pull herself to her feet, using the Aura Scepter for support. She leaned on it for a second to make sure she wouldn't collapse again, though she didn't trust her legs to be able to walk without some sort of support. Using the Aura Scepter as a cane, she walked over to Mismagius, who was watching her wearily.

"Looks like you were the first to regain your strength." Mismagius said. "Good for you. Being a Dark Reader I assume you have at least one dark type attack. Thinking that now would be a good time for revenge, are you?"

Aamira reached down to Mismagius and pulled the injured ghost pokemon up onto her back. Being a ghost type, Mismagius didn't weigh too much, which Aamira was grateful for, though carrying a pokemon that was slightly bigger than her was somewhat awkward to do, especially when she herself needed a crutch to walk.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mismagius said. "Let go of me this instant!"

"Do you want me to leave you out here for the shadow pokemon and nightmares to find?" Aamira asked. "Don't tempt me. You've put Quill, Lucario, and myself through a lot, though I'm not the sort who would look for revenge or leave an injured pokemon in a dangerous place."

Mismagius went quiet and Aamira managed to find a path down the side of the cliff. If only Lucario had fallen here, this disaster might not have happened. The path was still narrow and precarious. Aamira took a step forward and found that the path suddenly became steeper than it had been. She stumbled forward and nearly fell over the edge, but she managed to pull herself back up without dropping Mismagius.

"You don't have to do this." Mismagius said in a soft voice that sounded almost sincere.

Aamira ignored her and kept walking. She hoped that Lucario had managed to escape the Murkrow and would be coming to help her out soon, but until then they had to find some safety in the lower ground.

"We're still enemies, aren't we?" Mismagius said. "You haven't suddenly decided to join me. Dark aura or not, I doubt that you would after the previous bravado you've displayed in Atra. I will find my way back to that world and I will regain control on it. If you save me, everything you've worked for will have been a waste. Getting to Desolo a second time even wouldn't be a problem for me. Now I no longer have to fear how pressed I am for time before the Looking Glass breaks. I assume you must have fixed it or we wouldn't still be here. But then wait, how is it that you haven't disappeared?"

"I did fix it. As for how I'm still here, you'll have to ask someone else, if you can find anyone who actually knows. I suggest you give up on Atra. 'There will always be someone lurking in the dark, waiting for the chance to stop you. A hero will always appear in a time of need.'"

"Who told you that?" Mismagius asked. "That sounds vaguely familiar."

"It's nothing." Aamira said.

She noticed a cave up ahead. Luckily this one was just a regular cave and not another dungeon entrance. Aamira laid Mismagius down against the cave wall and sat down near her. She ached all over, but she had rested up enough from before to be able to stay awake now and keep an eye on Mismagius.

"I won't give up, you know." Mismagius said. "I will get to the center of everything eventually. The Eye of the Universe, the Jewel of Life, the Origin Egg… whatever you want to call it, this particular treasure is one that I simply must have."

"I won't allow it." Aamira said. "Noctowl told me the things you said you'd do once you got it. Reshaping the universe however you pleased. Allowing free will to the new inhabitants for the sole purpose of one day perhaps having a worthy foe to provide you with entertainment. Taking over Atra is one thing, but such a tyranny should never exist."

Mismagius lifted her head up as far as she could to look Aamira in the eye. "Are you seriously telling me that the old bird still believes what I told him even now? I was merely trying to ruffle his feathers. Get him agitated enough to create a distraction long enough to burn down your precious Treehouse without anyone noticing before the damage was done. To think I actually meant to do something like that! Ridiculous! It's true that anyone who would find this treasure would be able to do such things, but what fun would it be to be able to shape the world, or even the whole universe, in any way you want? There would be no surprises. No discoveries to be made for myself. The inhabitants of such a world would have just as many mysteries to solve, no doubt, but I would not."

"If that wasn't your reason for finding it, then what was?" Aamira asked.

"To find an answer, of course!" Mismagius said. "THE answer. For me. You may have forgotten, but because of Ho-oh I, too, had developed amnesia when I was turned into a pokemon. When I discovered the legend, I felt mortified by the thought of what I could have done, yet I felt no true guilt. Something occurred to me, but I realized that the only evidence I would be able to find would be in my own memory. The Origin Egg is said to contain within it everything that ever has existed and everything that will. This would include my memory."

"So you wanted to go there in order to get your memory back." Aamira said. "And for that you killed Shadow."

"He's dead!" Mismagius asked. "That Honchkrow… I told him to knock him unconscious and steal the Dream Amulet I believed he was guarding! I only learned later that it was actually guarded by Espeon, his mother, who had then given it to your team. I never would have expected that Honchkrow would do something like this though."

"You're telling me that Honchkrow did it?" Aamira asked.

"Who else?" Mismagius asked. "I was distracting Noctowl at the time your Treehouse caught fire, remember? I never intended something like this to happen."

Aamira's head was spinning. She had lost her memory during her fight against Mismagius as a human. She had always believed, from the time she found out that Lucario was Shade, that Mismagius had been her enemy. And yet it had been Honchkrow who killed Shadow. Mismagius wanted to get the Origin Egg for no other reason than to regain her memory. It had, in fact, been Honchkrow who had turned her aura dark in the first place. As strange as it sounded, Aamira was starting to believe that Mismagius was indeed just another innocent victim who was caught up in all of this.

"Honchkrow was the pokemon who turned your aura dark after you were kidnapped by those other humans." Aamira said. "Did you know that?"

"Was he now?" Mismagius asked. "Obviously if I had known I wouldn't have hired him to work for me, now would I?"

"I suppose not." Aamira said. "You mentioned a theory you had. What would that theory be?"

"As it turns out, a person's aura can't change unless they have both the means and the desire. It wasn't something that Honchkrow or anyone else could force. Being a Dark Reader yourself, you have supported my theory by still being able to use Aura Reader abilities while I cannot. Meaning that my aura changed because I lost my abilities, most likely in some extremely traumatic event. Say, the tower I used to live in burning down and being attacked by a powerful legendary pokemon."

"So you're saying you weren't the one who trapped Suicune, Entei, and Raikou in the tower's basement? And that it wasn't you who burned the tower?" Aamira asked.

"That is my theory. Because of my apparent betrayal, all humans were banished from our original world. If it turned out not to be me, if it was even the fault of a pokemon such as Honchkrow… Well I don't know if I could convince Ho-oh to bring the humans back without solid evidence, but it would be a load off of my mind to know I wasn't responsible."

'To know she wasn't responsible…' Aamira couldn't help thinking of the times Honchkrow mentioned her own past. After Shadow died in the fire, Honchkrow mentioned that she had witnessed something similar once before. Then at Sphere Pillar he mentioned not liking fire and that Aamira would have been willing to do anything to appease her own master before losing her memory. What did he mean by that? Honchkrow seemed to know her somehow from her past. Maybe she had set a similar fire once and it caused the death of someone he was close too. What if Shadow's death was really the result of Honchkrow's attempt of revenge? If so, it would have been her fault. If only she knew for sure…

"Lucario!" Mismagius shouted in outrage and floated a couple of inches into the air before collapsing back on the floor.

Aamira hadn't even noticed the figure standing in the mouth of the cave. Silhouetted against the light sky outside, the figure did appear to be a Lucario. However, Aamira noticed his hand go to something at his waist that was undoubtedly a sword. There was only one pokemon Aamira knew of who carried a sword like that.

"I thought I sensed you here." Hunter said. "How strange, meeting you here of all places. Since you most likely haven't encountered anyone else here who knows what this place is, allow me to be the first to welcome you to the Other world."


	52. Chapter 52 The Curse of Cyrus

Aamira started to stand up, but her injuries caused her to collapse back onto the ground almost immediately. Hunter smirked and took a step closer, pulling his sword partially out of its sheath. Aamira growled as he approached. Here she was injured and completely defenseless and Hunter of all people would be who showed up.

"Who would have thought I'd be so fortunate as to find you alone aside from your injured friend there?" he said. "Too bad, Ruko's not around this time to save you."

"And what about in Ignis when you stopped attacking when you realize my attacks weren't working?" Aamira asked.

For a second Hunter seemed confused as if he couldn't remember what she was talking about or if he just didn't understand what she was implying. "You've got it wrong. I stopped attacking then because it caught me off guard. Someone as strong and widely feared in my world as you, honestly I would have expected more. I never expected that at any point you would be that helpless, much like you are now. If Honchkrow hadn't interfered, I would have continued the attack right after I figured out that much."

"What did you mean by 'widely feared'?" Aamira asked.

"As I thought, whatever sort of transformation you had gone through hasn't happened yet." He said. "You're not the wicked person I know just yet. That monster hasn't been created. Because of this, it's better I just end this while you're still weaker than me."

He continued to walk towards her and pulled his sword the rest of the way out. Aamira didn't try to reason with him. She knew whatever she tried to say, he would disregard it entirely.

"Now hold on a second!" Mismagius floated back into the air. This time she managed to remain levitating without collapsing. "Do you honestly think that I'm just going to sit here and watch you torment my niece like this? About a year ago I would have loved to see this, but not now."

Hunter regarded Mismagius for a long time before, with a motion so quick it was hardly noticeable, he raised his arm and hit her so hard with a dark Aura Sphere that it knocked her into the cave wall behind her. Mismagius gasped and collapsed back to the ground, staring at Hunter with wide, fearful eyes.

Hunter turned back to Aamira and noticed that she was staring at him the same way. He raised his hand again and formed another Aura Sphere. "Did I forget to mention? In the Other world, I can control my aura freely. I had almost forgotten what it felt like."

Aamira hadn't noticed before because of the lighting in the cave, but she realized that Hunter did look noticeably older than before. His eyes were still the same colors, but they seemed different somehow too. It was almost as if this Hunter was a different one from the one she knew. With everything that had happened so far in this "Other" world, she wouldn't be surprised. She could tell that this was the real Hunter though. There was no mistaking it.

"Why do you have to do this for something I haven't even done yet?" Aamira asked. "Quill and I are trying our hardest to help protect everyone. Why would you compromise the safety of so many people by trying to hurt one of us?" Aamira shrieked as Hunter suddenly threw the sword at her, embedding it into the ground right next to her right foot.

"You idiot!" he shouted. "Don't you dare think so highly of yourself! You don't even know the legend you're involved in, do you? You don't know anything of the legend or the prophecy related to it!"

Aamira managed to find some extra strength from somewhere and stood up quickly. "Then tell me!" Hunter seemed surprised by her sudden outburst, but didn't say anything in response. Aamira spoke again, trying to keep calm. "Please… If you know, just tell me… I've had enough. I just want to find Quill and go home. I don't want to be suspected of any crimes, be told that I'm going to become a monster someday, be told that I used to be a monster before losing my memory… I just want to go home!"

Hunter walked over to Aamira. For a second she thought it would be to attack her the way he attacked Mismagius, but it was only to retrieve his sword. He sheathed his sword and backed away. "You would never believe me if I did tell you. Trust me, I have the entire prophecy and legend completely memorized word for word both in English and the language it was originally written in.

"It must be written somewhere, right?" Aamira asked. "Then take me to where it's written so I can see for myself."

"There is the Unown Library." Hunter said. "It is written there. If I take you there to read it yourself, maybe you'll start to see why you can't continue to exist."

"Alright, I'll go." Aamira said. "It's starting to get late though and Mismagius and I are still injured. Just let me rest for tonight and I'll be ready in the morning."

"If you say so." Hunter turned and walked out of the cave. No doubt he had no desire to sleep within the same proximity as her. He would probably stay up the entire night watching the cave entrance to make sure she didn't try to escape.

Aamira sat against the cave wall and buried her face in her hands. How did she get into these messes? With any luck, this Unown Library wouldn't be too far. She wasn't looking forward to having to travel with someone like Hunter.

"Are you alright?" Aamira asked Mismagius.

"I think so, yes." She said. "His power was shocking. I've never met a Lucario that could control dark aura the way he could. I'm sure you remember how Lucario nearly lost control of himself just from using Dark Pulse. Anyone who has to deal with using dark energy would have a great amount of difficulty controlling it. It doesn't really get any easier. And yet he seemed to control it perfectly…"

"Will you be coming with us?" Aamira asked. "I'm not sure if you could find any clues in that library, but you might be able to."

"No, I'm finished." She said. "Honchkrow was right; I'm no hero. I protected you before because you were the first willing to listen in a long time. I understand how you feel about wanting to go home though. I've had enough too. I may not have a home to return to, but what better time to look for one? Traveling doesn't sound like a bad idea. I know you and Lucario will have something to say if I cause any trouble, so I'll try not to."

"Will you be leaving in the morning too, then?"

"Probably. If my injuries will allow it anyway. They should be somewhat more bearable by then at least. Go ahead and get some rest; I'll make sure that Hunter doesn't come in here while you're asleep."

'Not that it would matter either way…' Aamira thought. Her situation seemed to get worse with each passing minute. She wondered if Roy and Quill were okay or if they were going through the same things she was. She tried resonating, but she couldn't sense Quill's emotions at all. She still wasn't used to being able to sleep without the fear of nightmares and she had no intention of taking her music box out around Hunter or Mismagius.

It was quite a few hours before she finally managed to get to sleep. Mismagius waited a while to make sure she really was asleep and floated into the air. 'It would be so easy. Everything that this child has done… I could get revenge now with no opposition. Such a fool to think that I would try to protect her from Hunter. And yet…'

She couldn't help but thinking of the time Aamira had spent dragging Mismagius to safety, in spite of her own injuries. After that, Aamira had actually listened to the old ghost's ravings and had, surprisingly, believed them. The things she said had been true. When was the last time that happened? She couldn't even remember. What did it matter?

'I can't forgive her.' Mismagius thought. 'She humiliated me in the past more than even Lucario knows. I don't care if it was him who sealed me in the staff, it's this one who I can't stand!'

Mismagius turned into a shadow in preparation to use Shadow Sneak. At the last minute, she hesitated. Honchkrow had known more about who this child was before she lost her memory. Whoever that person was, that person no longer existed. This was Aamira and the human child who first appeared in Atra was, as far as she knew, nameless. What right did she have to seek revenge for the things she didn't remember doing?

Mismagius glanced at the scepter that was laying on the ground next to Aamira. She had fallen asleep with it clutched tightly in her hand, but now she had her hand laying limply over top of it. "I won't protect you from Hunter." Mismagius carefully levitated the staff out from under her hand. She stirred slightly, but seemed to still be exhausted and not about to wake up any time soon. "You're on your own now, dear niece. Whatever happens to you from this point on is no fault of mine."

When Aamira woke up in the morning, Hunter was standing in the mouth of the cave, watching her impatiently. She looked around for Mismagius, but it seemed like she had left already. Aside from Mismagius, the Aura Scepter seemed to be missing as well. She had gone to sleep, not even really thinking about the scepter, but holding onto it as if it was her life. Now it seemed that Mismagius had stolen it.

"Can you stand?" Hunter asked.

Aamira's muscles were terribly stiff from her injuries and from laying in the same position on the stone floor for the whole night. It seemed that she had healed a great deal in her sleep though and, after her leg decided to wake up, she had no trouble standing or walking without using the scepter as a crutch.

"So where is the Unown Library?" Aamira asked.

"In the center of the Satus Ruins. Ruins of a city said to be the first built by humans to honor certain legendary pokemon. It was hidden in this world long ago after its fall in order to protect the Unown Library. The library itself is said to house a vast amount of knowledge that even the world's greatest Aura Reader would be envious of. All of the knowledge of the universe is said to be stored there."

"The knowledge of the universe?" Aamira said. 'If I went there, maybe I could find out about who I was in the past in addition to the legend. Maybe that could answer some questions about what's going on now. And maybe I can find out where Quill and Roy are while I'm there.'

"However, according to the legend of this place, each person who enters the library will only be able to find the answers to what they desire most. Each person can ask one question and one question only about anything they want and they will get the answer to that one and only question. I would assume you would ask about the legend, since it's a priority. However, I assume you will be tempted to ask other questions instead. Everyone is. It took all of my willpower the first time I went there to ask the question I had to."

It made sense that he had been there before. How else would he have known about the library? Then again, maybe it was just common knowledge in this world. "I know it's the top priority right now, so I'll try to stick with finding the legend unless something really important comes up."

Hunter sighed. He figured this was as close as he would get to a promise. Aamira would never admit it, but in spite of how she had acted the previous night, she was scared. She was desperately trying to convince herself that finding Quill and Roy was the top priority and that they could find the legend later on. Or maybe the priority was finding out about her past? Roy and Quill could take care of themselves. If she knew more about who she was in the past, maybe that could answer her questions about the future.

There had to be some way of avoiding it. Aamira couldn't imagine ever having been or in the future becoming the monster that Honchkrow and Hunter had described. And yet, why was it that neither of them would ever tell her about the things she had done? Maybe they had made it up just to scare her. After all, Hunter and Honchkrow had worked together before.

Around noon Hunter had led Aamira into a different sector. The doorway had been concealed inside a dungeon like the last one and they emerged in a desert-like area with no sign of the mountain range they had previously been in. There was a cluster of mountains off in the distance, but it didn't look nearly as big as the ones they had previously been in. Aside from that, the desert was dotted with numerous mesas and a large canyon could be seen in the distance separating them from the mountains.

Aamira had thought it had been around noon, but the sun was already setting by the time they entered this new sector. The suns were set low near the ground, covering the whole desert in a strange red light. It most likely seemed strange because of the unusual shadows caused by the three suns. Even though the suns were still up, the sky above was dark and already filled with stars. The two moons were out too and seemed closer together than Aamira remembered. She wondered if the smaller of the two would eclipse the larger one in a few nights.

"This place is unusual." Hunter said. "It's one of the many distorted areas in this world. In this area, time is perpetually frozen near sunset, which gave this area the name, Twilight Desert. Time was frozen this way in order to protect Satus and a few other relics from ancient times." He pointed towards the mountains in the distance. "That is our destination. In the center of those mountains is where Satus is hidden. The entire area from the canyon on is a different sector where time flows differently. That being said, tomorrow will be a challenge."

"Should we find a place to stop for the night?" Aamira asked.

Hunter looked around at the various mesas until he gestured towards one far in the distance that seemed to catch his eye. "We'll stay there to rest. By the time we get there it would be night in places where time flows normally. There's something there you might be interested in too."

Something had been bothering Aamira for a while and she just couldn't keep it to herself any longer. "Why are you suddenly acting so nice?"

"Nice?" Hunter said. "I'm not acting nice, I'm acting like someone who isn't going to start picking fights for at least a few hours. Indifferent is the word you're looking for. Just because I'm not attacking you doesn't mean you should mistake my behavior for being nice to you."

"Is that so?" Aamira asked.

"Let me just get something straight right now. I never hated you in the future. Not until a certain incident. I began to realize, just as Ruko suggested I would, that you weren't always an evil hearted person. I'm not looking for revenge on you now, only a means to stop a disaster before it occurs. Nothing more. Ruko is one of the best teachers anyone could ever hope to find. As a result, don't think I can't control my emotions like some other pokemon."

"Well, if you say so." Aamira figured it was best just to go with what he said for the time being. It was better than getting him aggravated. If he couldn't control his emotions as well as he claimed he could, it would only lead to trouble.

As they walked, Aamira started to notice strange gouges in the ground and the sides of the mesas. They looked strangely like huge claw marks and scars left in the earth from incredibly strong attacks. She started to wonder why Satus was abandoned in the first place. It was obvious that there had been some sort of huge battle here; some of the energy still remained due to the static time in this area. It was like nothing that Aamira had ever felt before. Just standing in this wasteland gave her a sense of what the old world was like.

They reached the mesa they were heading towards in what would have been a few hours. Aamira could just barely make out something large on the top. All of the energy from the battle that had taken place here seemed to revolve around this one mesa.

"It's up here." Hunter led Aamira around the side of the mesa until they came to an old rusty iron ladder. "Don't worry; the ladder's condition hasn't worsened at all in a few thousand years due to the time distortion. It's not about to collapse any time soon."

Even so, it looked really old and rickety. Could something like that, even if time was frozen, really last for so long? Aamira started to climb and found that it was actually more stable than she would have guessed. The rust from the ladder made her fur turn red, but at the very least it didn't collapse.

At the top she found a life-sized statue of a Lugia and Espeon standing next to each other. Their noses were just inches from touching and they both seemed close to tears. Both of them were covered in terrible injuries, though the ones on the Lugia seemed to have scarred over, if it was possible for a statue to look that way. The statue didn't seem to belong here. While the rest of the desert was made from red stone with many layers, the stone this statue was made from was light grey, which looked strange in the sunset surrounded by the red stone.

These two pokemon didn't look much like their living counterparts. The Espeon looked somehow more mystic, if that was the word to use. Her shoulders were slightly broader and her whiskers were much longer than other Espeons' and drooped down slightly. She, or at least Aamira assumed it was female, certainly seemed like a pokemon who was used to battles.

On the other hand, while Espeon looked kind, the Lugia looked sinister. Its feet were curled into large claws, the face was more angular than a regular Lugia, and the horns covering its eyes were long and jagged. Though Aamira had never seen the aura of a shadow pokemon, she was sure that the aura emanating from this statue was the same. The Lugia was somehow entrancing and it was hard for Aamira to pull her attention away from it.

"What you see here is what is left of the first Espeon and her adopted son, Shadow." Hunter said. "Long ago, humans built a city in reverence for the legendary pokemon. That same city, Satus, would later be destroyed in a war between humans and pokemon. Strangely enough, it was a battle between two pokemon that ended the war."

"Shadow was driven insane by the human who had created him and went on a rampage." Aamira recalled from Ninetales's story. "Espeon had to stop him, so both of them ended up fighting. The power from their battle was so great that it turned them both into stone."

"That's the gist of it. Mother and son forced to fight one another, which resulted in the end of a long war. Their battle lasted a full week, nonstop. Such a thing is hard to imagine in this time. Although we would come close at some point. Five days would be our record so far."

Normally this would have surprised Aamira, but something seemed strange about this Lugia. She knew that he had been a shadow pokemon, it was most likely where the term had gotten its name, but there was still something about this pokemon. There was something that made her heart beat wildly with… was it fear or excitement? Whatever it was, it was definitely something familiar.

"Are you listening?" Hunter asked. Aamira turned to face him after finally snapping out of her trance. He had been speaking the whole time and she hadn't heard a thing. "I said that there are still dangerous pokemon in this area. There's a cave hidden in the side of the mesa that should be safe enough. We should rest there and continue towards Satus in a few hours."

Aamira hurried to the ladder, thinking she would go insane if she stayed near Shadow much longer. When she realized Hunter wasn't following, she turned to see what he was doing. He was facing towards the statues with his hand twisted in a salute unique to Riolu and Lucario. Now that Aamira thought about it, she had never known what it meant. She knew that it was normally only trained Riolu and Lucario that did it, but she didn't really know why.

"Why do you do that?" Aamira asked.

Hunter stayed in the same position for a while before turning back and walking towards the ladder. It almost seemed as if he had been praying to the two pokemon, though it almost seemed silly. "You mean the Spirit's Salute? I'm not surprised you don't know; most pokemon don't in your time. It started with the first Riolu, who was created by the lake spirits, Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit. Before a battle against his rival, Houndoom, he assured the three spirits that he would come back safely. They wished him luck and saluted him in this manner. He came back from the battle days later, badly hurt. He gave the three spirits a weak smile and did the same salute before losing consciousness. He slept for a month and they were afraid that he would never wake up. Very few do after sleeping for so long. It was a miracle when he finally did. Some people think that when the spirits saluted him that they had given him the strength to win."

"He was eventually beaten by Houndoom later though, wasn't he?" Aamira asked. "So I can see where the salute came from, but is there a particular meaning that developed along with it?"

"It has come to mean 'My aura is with you', which is the highest form of a blessing that could be given among Riolu and Lucario. It's often misused though, and I suppose it wouldn't make much sense in most situations that it's used it."

For the first time, Aamira realized that she had never spoken with a Lucario or a Riolu who was raised as a Lucario or Riolu. Aamira herself, of course, had been born a human and knew close to nothing about their culture. Roy had been orphaned as an egg and had been raised by Kangaskhan along side Sandshrew. Lucario had been raised my Mismagius since shortly after hatching and his time with his real father had been brief. Lucario and the two Riolu from team Rio were sort of a joke. She had no idea where they came from, but they obviously didn't know much about their own culture. That left Hunter and Ruko. Ruko always had a roundabout way of speaking and Hunter hated her. Neither of them was about to tell her their life stories, but it was apparent from the things that Hunter knew that he had spent more time around their species than she had.

As much as she disliked Hunter and even feared him to some degree, it seemed like he was trying his hardest to put up with her for the time being. She tried to ask him some more questions, but he seemed to have figured out that she had gained some interest. After this he refused to speak any more and suggested that they both get some sleep.

The entire time Aamira had been in this world, it had been impossible to dream. This time was different. It wasn't so much a dream, but a still image of Shadow's statue. She laid inside of the small cave for about an hour, half asleep before she couldn't take it any longer. She opened an eye halfway to make sure Hunter was asleep before getting up and sneaking out.

Up on top of the mesa, nothing had changed. Espeon and Shadow remained frozen as they had been when Aamira first saw them. Although, there seemed to be more life in Shadow's statue than before. Aamira wondered about how Suicune and the other two had woken up. They had been able to wake up on their own just by having her around, even for a small amount of time. What if Shadow was doing the same thing?

'Don't worry about such things, child.' Aamira nearly jumped when she heard the voice speaking through her mind. It had been a while since she encountered telepathy. 'Unfortunately, your resolve isn't nearly strong enough to free me, or I would have escaped this cold prison of mine already.'

"You're… Shadow?" Aamira asked.

'Aye. And you are one of the Cyrus. I never expected one of you to appear before me again. And to be human born as well? I wonder what could have happened to cause that?'

"Wait, what's a Cyrus? And what do you mean about being human born?"

She got the feeling that Shadow was laughing at her, though she couldn't actually hear it. 'You don't even know who or what you are, do you?' Aamira felt a sharp pain in the center of her forehead. A few of her memories from the point where she lost her memory till now flashed through her mind. 'Ah, I see. Amnesia. Memory Obliteration from the looks of it. I hope you're satisfied, since I was the one who came up with this technique.'

"What do you want?" Aamira demanded. "I don't know what things were like in your world, but in the time I come form, it's usually considered offensive to just look through a person's mind like that."

'Are you sure about that?' Shadow asked with what seemed like a smirk. 'Sounds accurate. It was considered offensive in my time as well.'

Aamira couldn't tell if she hated Shadow or if she just didn't like the idea of him looking through her memories. Whatever it was, she knew it was about time she went back to sleep. She figured that he was really only able to speak to her like this at a close range, which would explain why he hadn't spoken to her from inside the cave. As she tried to leave though, it felt as if she couldn't move at all.

'You're not leaving just yet.' Shadow said. 'You had questions that you wanted me to answer, didn't you?'

Finding that she was no longer able to speak through her mouth, Aamira tried to speak to Shadow through her mind, thinking that he would probably be able to hear. 'I don't care what a Cyrus is or whatever it means to be human born.' Aamira then remembered the vision she had had of the female Lucario during the Lunar Eclipse. She had said the same thing, though she hadn't mentioned anything about a Cyrus. Though now that she thought about it, back when she and Quill were in Silex, she was sure that Heatran had been about to call her that out of panic. Whatever it meant, it didn't seem to be anything good.

'For you humans, it is a tradition to go by two names at the least. A first name and a family or clan name. Most of these family names come from a famous, or infamous, ancestor. Your ancestor was Cyrus. Greedy and war loving, he was all of the qualities I loved in humans. It didn't surprise me when he teamed up with that Houndoom to release me from this stone prison. Not many people know much about the devastation that followed. You should know, I never had to force him to do anything. When we met with opposition, he took the lives of 108 people, both pokemon and human, all on his own. And of course when I was returned to this tomb of mine, he had to pay the consequences. An old witch bound the souls of those people to a keystone and created the pokemon Spiritomb. He wasn't the most obedient, unfortunately. As soon as he got loose, he put a curse on your ancestor that would carry on throughout generations.'

Aamira knew he was trying to get her to ask it. She figured if she did then he might decide to let her go quicker. 'So what did this curse do?'

'It was a terrible curse that could influence a person's luck. A person with some skill could control it to give good luck to certain people they liked and bad luck to enemies. It never effected them directly though. For the most part though, the curse is nearly impossible to control. Because of this, all Cyrus are labeled as bad luck and anyone with common sense tends to avoid them. I hear that children who do not have as good a grasp on what the curse is are especially dangerous. Most people they come into contact with, mainly close friends, will meet an unpleasant end.'

'You're just trying to scare me.' Aamira said. 'You want me to think that I'm dangerous to my friends so I won't go looking for them. Possibly so I won't have anyone else to turn to but you?'

'You're perceptive. Unfortunately, while this may or may not be true, everything I've said on the matters of this curse has been true. That Spiritomb claimed that in the future there would be one who carried Cyrus's name who's history with those closest to them would end especially badly. Mistrust between loved ones. A quarrel that ends in tragedy. Most likely some others will be caught in the middle as well.'

'And you're the only one who can help me?' Aamira asked sarcastically.

'I'm afraid not. This is your curse. All because of an ancestor who you don't even know and your family name which you couldn't even remember.'

Aamira was getting more irritated by the minute. 'Alright, I get it. So tell me about that human born thing, if you're so insistent on this.' Aamira waited a while before finding that she could move again.

'We'll talk again, descendant of my ally. In the future when your way forward is blocked and you don't have time. When you find the resolve to do what you will, I will aid you. If you haven't discovered what it means by then, I shall tell you. I find this whole development to be quite… intriguing. The information will no doubt be useful to you later on. Just be sure to survive that long.'

Aamira glanced over at Espeon's statue, and Shadow immediately snapped at her. 'She doesn't want to speak with you. I don't know why. She normally shows a certain fondness to Aura Readers, Dark Readers not excluded.'

Aamira looked up at Shadow's statue one last time before turning and heading back to the cave at the base of the mesa. Hunter was still asleep. He apparently hadn't heard any of their conversation from when Aamira was speaking out loud.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something glowing near Hunter's feet. She had noticed that he had been carrying around an old bag about the size of her money bag, but she hadn't paid much attention to it until it had started to glow.

She stepped towards it hesitantly and dumped out the contents of the little bag on the ground. It's only contents were a small crystal that glowed in many different colors. Aamira reached down to touch it and as soon as she did, Hunter was awake. He jumped up in an attempt to stop her, but she had already touched the crystal by then.

Aamira was now in a forest that seemed somewhat similar to the one she had first arrived in. A Lucario ran past her but was stopped when a second one jumped down in front of her with his hand on the hilt of a sword. Aamira thought for a minute that the first Lucario had looked familiar. Once she drew her rusty bronze sword, Aamira realized that it was the same one from the vision she had during the eclipse. Of course, the second Lucario was Hunter, who didn't seem to notice Aamira. In fact, neither of them did.

"What's going on?" Aamira asked Hunter. He just continued to stare at the female Lucario who in turn stared at him. The two of them stayed this way for an extremely long time.

Finally the female Lucario smiled. "Well? Aren't you going to gloat about being able to track me down again? Or has that old dog finally taught you some patients?"

"He's tried." Ruko kept his hand on his sword for the longest time before drawing it and attacking. His steel blade had always seemed somewhat impressive, and yet the female Lucario was able to block it with the point of her bronze sword. Aamira had never seen anyone who was that skilled with a sword, not even Gallade when he was practicing in the dojo. And yet, she hadn't even seen her draw her bronze sword. It was hard to tell if Hunter was able to follow her movements, but he didn't seem too unnerved if he couldn't.

The Lucario shook her head slowly. "Oh you poor thing. He's been letting you neglect your training again, hasn't he? Look at you. Exhausted from chasing me all this way. No practice in weeks, from the looks of it. Poor thing."

Hunter was straining to move his sword, but the other Lucario managed to keep it balanced on the tip of hers. With a quick flip of her wrist, she caused Hunter's sword to fly out of his hands and fall somewhere in the bushes off to their left. She charged him and pinned him to a nearby tree with her own sword.

Aamira couldn't believe that Hunter could be so easily defeated like this. She had had a difficult time as it was trying to beat him, how tough was this other Lucario then? Aamira didn't think that she could ever reach this Lucario's level. It just seemed beyond the limit of what anyone could possibly hope to reach.

"You really should have rested up before running after me." The Lucario said softly. "I've learned from experience that exhaustion only hinders a person's strength. Now why don't you just calmly tell me what you want. Depending on your answer, I might let you go."

"For the same reason I've always been following you." Hunter growled. "I want revenge!"

"Hah!" the female Lucario let him go and backed away. "You're going to have to try better than that! If you really want to avenge that good for nothing fool!"

"That's enough!" A third, elderly Lucario attacked the female Lucario, disarming her of her bronze sword in one sweep of his cane. She seemed to know who she stood a chance against and who she didn't. She didn't stay around to fight, as she had when Hunter attacked her. She ran off without trying to retrieve her sword and ran off through the woods.

"Ruko!" Hunter growled angrily. "I told you not to interfere!"

Ruko glared at Hunter in a way that Aamira never thought he was capable of. "You won't speak to me like that. Ever. How dare you speak to your master like that!" Hunter seemed to be frozen in place in much the same way as Aamira has been when she stood in front of Shadow's statue.

"Don't you want to get revenge too!" Hunter shouted. "After what she did to Lucario? You spent so much time searching for him and then that monster—"

"Aamira wasn't always that monster!" Ruko shouted back.

Aamira felt as if she had just been hit by Raichu's Thunder again. 'There's no way… That monstrous Lucario that Hunter was fighting was me…? No, that can't be true! What did he mean by getting revenge for Lucario! What does he think I did!'

"It doesn't matter, does it?" Hunter said. "A monster's a monster. It doesn't matter what kind of person she used to be if that's the sort of person she is now!"

"And it doesn't matter if you get revenge on her because it's not going to bring back Lucario!"

'What do you mean, "bring back!"' Aamira shouted in her mind. She couldn't believe she was seeing all of this. She suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here. Captured by Darkrai, locked in Mismagius's dungeon, arrested by Rhyperior… it didn't matter! Just as long as it turned out that all of this was just some terrible nightmare!

"Then what do you suggest?" Hunter asked, speaking in a somewhat calmer way than he had before.

"Why don't you find out what it was that caused Aamira to be like this?" Hunter asked. "You know what this forest is. Celebi came here to live a long time ago. We could easily find him and go back to see for ourselves."

Hunter was silent, but Aamira had the feeling that he was thinking something on the lines of, "So Ruko doesn't know how it happened either…"

"Alright." He said. "If you think that's a good idea. Time travel is one thing, but who knows what will happen if I leave this world?"

"I don't think anything would happen to this world as long as you're still alive." Ruko said. "As long as your present self stays alive, no matter what time or place you're in nothing bad should happen. Well? Let's go."

Ruko walked further into the forest and Hunter reluctantly followed.

Aamira was hit in the chest by a strong attack and was suddenly knocked back into the wall, back in the cave where she and Hunter had been staying. She recognized the position that Hunter was in. He had just attacked her with Aura Sphere. The crystal she had touched to trigger the vision was still laying where it fell from the bag. How long had that vision, or whatever it was, lasted?

She didn't have time to think about that. Whatever it was that she had just done, Hunter was furious. He drew his sword and attacked without waiting for Aamira to regain her bearings. She managed to dodge underneath and ran towards the small crevasse that was the cave's entrance. Being a lot smaller than Hunter, she was able to get through much quicker than he could.

She ran faster than she ever thought was possible and only stopped when she realized that she had passed the boundary of the sector that they were in and suddenly she was standing at the exit of the dungeon they had gone through to get there.

Aamira's head hurt terribly. She didn't want to go near Hunter again, but if she wanted to go to the Unown Library, she would have to pass by where they had been staying. It looked like she would just have to give up on it for the time being.

What about all of that stuff that she had seen? She couldn't believe what she had witnessed and what she had heard, but it seemed like she really did do something terrible in the future. Worst of all, it had been something that she had done to Lucario.

She hadn't noticed until then, but she was shaking badly and now that she noticed, it was hard to stay standing. She sat on the ground, curled her arms and tail around her legs, and rested her head on her knees. She would have to stay here until she could calm down and figure out what to do next. Obviously she would have to get out of this sector. Finding Quill and Roy was a top priority now. She didn't think she could keep going on her own.

Luckily she wouldn't have to. Just then a familiar little pokemon came running out from the dungeon behind her. He was so glad to see her again after all of the pokemon he had been desperately trying to avoid to get here.

"Aamira!" he shouted. "Wow, I thought I'd never see you again, after Darkrai showed up!"

Aamira turned and had to smile when she saw Ralts. Finally, a familiar face that didn't want to attack her! "Ralts! Thank goodness you're alright. I've been worrying ever since you teleported away to avoid Darkrai."

"I'm pretty good at avoiding strong pokemon by now, but Teleport is a pretty exhausting move to use…" He admitted. "We're pretty far from where we started though, aren't we?"

"Yea, I guess we are…" Up until now, Aamira hadn't had the opportunity to think much about it. "So what are you doing here?"

"Working on the mind map." Ralts said. "Ralts have a really large mental capacity and I've been using it to make a map of this world for a while. I've been trying to figure the way the different sectors and the doors to each fit together, but it's pretty difficult. They all seem to exist on different planes of reality, if that makes sense."

"Not really…" Aamira said. Although, it actually did make more sense than she would have thought. How else could there be so many different places with different time flows and such? But now Aamira got an idea. She remembered that Honchkrow had said that Quill had fallen into the ocean around the time when they first came to this world. It could be a trap, but then what was the point of that? She was already unable to move back then, so a trap would have been unnecessary. Perhaps there was some truth to what Honchkrow had said. "Hey, in that mind map of yours, you wouldn't happen to have a way to get to the ocean, would you?"

"Yea, of course!" Ralts said. "It's really close by. It's just to the north of here."

"Which way's north?" Aamira asked.

"I can't tell either." Ralts admitted. "The direction of the magnetic poles seems to change in each sector. To keep the map consistent, I've been ignoring the magnetic poles all together and I've just been going by using the direction I first went in as being north. It's just over that way." Aamira pointed to the left of the direction that she and Hunter had first gone in. "That's the way I call north. The ocean is just through the door there. It's still pretty far though."

"Then let's go together if you don't have anything else you need to do."

Ralts shook his head. "I don't. Nowhere to go. And I'd rather stay around a nice pokemon like you, who can beat up all of the stronger ones."

Aamira stood up and stretched and the two of them headed off. It really was nice to be around someone friendly again. Aamira was worried about Lucario. The last she saw him, he had been pushed off of a cliff by the Murkrow. Was he alright? She felt suddenly responsible for his safety after seeing what she saw from touching the crystal.

What about Quill and Roy? Hopefully she would be reunited with Quill soon, if he had been able to find land. She still had no word on where Roy could be though. Was this a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe it didn't mean anything in particular. It looked like for the time being she would just have to track down her friends one at a time, starting with looking for Quill near the ocean.


	53. Chapter 53 Legend of the Dark Reader

While Aamira was walking with Ralts through the battle-scarred wasteland, it occurred to her that the majority of the time she had been in range of what Hunter could see with his aura. He would probably come after them soon, but for now he seemed to be keeping his distance for some reason. Maybe to make it more of a challenge, though she couldn't say for sure.

After what felt like half a day, Ralts led Aamira to a tree with a hollow at the bottom, much like the one that she and Quill had stayed in for a time. Aside from the roots, she could see nothing past it; everything else was dark. Aamira assumed that this must be the door to the ocean.

"Here it is." Ralts said. "Now we just—"

Ralts froze mid-sentence and Aamira felt the same chill at the same time. They turned to see Darkrai hovering behind them. He hadn't made any sound. He hadn't left any hint that he had come to this location by any means. He was just suddenly there.

"Don't attempt to run." He said in his usual inaudible voice.

Ralts was about to teleport away, but something in Darkrai's voice, if Ralts could actually hear him, must have somehow prevented it. It was as if he was suddenly under some sort of spell that kept him from moving. Aamira tried to rush to his rescue, only to find that she was also incapable of moving.

'Why is he affecting me like this!' Aamira shouted to herself fiercely in her mind. 'No pokemon has ever affected me this badly before. I know he's the pokemon of nightmares, but how is it that he seems to radiate fear that affects anyone that comes close to him?'

"You… have to run…" Ralts managed to say. "I might be able to do something about this, but don't try to save me, okay? The second I'm moved from this spot, my concentration will break and he'll most likely attack us."

At this, Darkrai lunged towards them, not willing to give them a chance to escape. At the last second Ralts raised both of his arms and a psychic barrier formed around them. The fear that had been radiating from Darkrai was cut off from him and Aamira and she instantly found that she could move again. Darkrai rammed into the barrier, and a small crack appeared in it. The fact that it hadn't shattered instantly was impressive. For a Ralts that wasn't strong enough to fight for himself, he sure was doing a good job of holding Darkrai back for the time being. And yet, how could Aamira be expected to just leave him here?

"Go now!" Ralts sounded like he was in agony as he shouted. The mental focus required to form and hold the barrier like this must have been causing him a lot of pain, especially with Darkrai attacking it. "Look, I can't explain now, but you're really important for later. I can't let Darkrai take you. We help each other in the future. Can't explain. Just hurry!"

Aamira couldn't understand anything of what Ralts was saying. Something had occurred to her though; it might be that Darkrai was either after her or Ralts. If he decided to make catching her the priority, he might leave Ralts alone if she left. It was worth trying, and she still had to find Quill and Roy.

Aamira nodded and jumped under the tree. A second later she found herself falling through the air and was nearly knocked unconscious as she hit the surface of the freezing water after such a long fall. The water definitely tasted salty, so this must be the ocean. Maybe this had been where Quill originally fell. Aamira had no time to think about this though; the waves here were huge and she was doing whatever she could just to keep above the water.

She started getting used to it after a while and began wondering if she might even become the first Riolu to learn how to Surf. Unfortunately, as the time passed, she realized that she wasn't going to be able to keep this up forever. She was fatigued from all of her recent endeavors and the cold water was chilling her to the bone. Exhaustion was starting to take its toll on her and after a while she couldn't keep it up anymore. Just as she sank beneath the waves, she thought she had seen the shadow of a large pokemon that had dove into the waves above her.

When Aamira woke up, she was confused and disoriented. She realized that she was moving at a very swift speed and that whatever she was laying on was really soft. Not really the sort of soft like what a person would expect from a pillow, but rather from an Espeon's velvet-like fur.

Aamira noticed what the pokemon was that she was being carried by and immediately thought she must be dreaming. In a short fit of madness, she had managed to confuse this pokemon for Shadow, although this Lugia looked nothing like the statue that she had seen.

"Hey, she's awake!" All of Aamira's energy returned the minute she heard Quill's voice. Finally, they were back together and they were both safe for the time being. "Don't think too much about it. Lugia rescued me the same way when I first ended up in the Other world."

"It's good to see you again." Lugia said. "Honestly, after you had run off to that lake alone and failed to return, I doubted I would ever hear anything from you again. And here you are. And of course I've met your friend who you've talked so much about."

Aamira sat up on Lugia's back and tried to make sense of what exactly he was saying. "Do… Do I know you?"

"Did you forget?" Quill asked Lugia. "She doesn't remember ever coming to this world."

"Oh yes, of course!" Lugia said. "My apologies. Seeing you again made me forget what Quill had told me. I immediately assumed that you had just been roaming around this world in spite of the information I possessed about your current status. So tell me, you don't remember anything about coming here after using Aura Restore?"

"Aura Restore…" Aamira said. "So this is where I was! Wait a second. The Stantler consider this their territory. If I had been here before, it's no wonder they thought I was an intruder."

"Wow, it took me a lot longer to figure that out." Quill said. "We have so much to catch up on! Lugia's been telling me about all of the things you had been doing in this world when you disappeared. To think you were in a world like this all along, it's a bit baffling, isn't it?"

"No kidding…" Aamira said. "I'm glad I finally found you though. You have no idea what I've been through the last few days."

Lugia chuckled. "For adventures of the abnormal sort, look to the Other side of life. That's an old saying in this world. Here where the abnormal is normal. I suppose I should explain though since you don't remember. If you don't mind, try not to ask too many questions until the end. It would take to long to explain otherwise. This world itself is a strange thing. It's the world where one goes when they sleep, the world where one goes when they die, the world where one lives before they're born, the world where those live which do not exits, and where normal laws are disregarded. This world is a gap in time and a tear in space. It connects everything that ever has existed, everything that will existed, everything that has never existed, and nothing. This is the connecting space, the border of reality itself. It's referred to as the Border world, the Grey world, the Dream world, and, most commonly, the Other world. Any questions so far?"

"No, I think I've got it." Aamira said uncertainly. "Stantler warp reality, right? I've never understood what that meant. I guess their antlers are like a gateway to this world. So they're sort of like gatekeepers. I've seen some of those laws that you've mentioned that are ignored. It sort of make sense, I guess."

"It probably helps that you've heard it once before." Lugia suggested. "The way you were brought here the first time was by an unconventional means. As far as I know no Aura Reader has ever saved the world with Aura Restore. Because of this, you were able to live. Normally when a person uses that technique, it costs all their energy and they vanish. For you, that's not how it happened. Your aura didn't vanish, but was infused with the different dimensions. The gaps between time and space and, by extension, this world itself. Since you aura still existed, you could not die, though for a time you couldn't keep a bodily form. This is the world where those who would not normally exist can exist. By being here, you were brought back, but not without some repercussions."

Lugia paused, and Aamira took this as a hint that she could ask more questions if she needed to. "I think I sort of get it. Energy can't be created or destroyed, right? The same as matter and mass. So if my energy still existed then I had to exist in some form… So what kind of repercussions were there?"

"You lost what was most fragile. There are three things that make up a living person; their knowledge or the ability to obtain knowledge in some form, emotions, and their will to exist. You lost the first of these once before when your memory was erased. Since your memory was already fragile, then by coming to this world it slowly started to fade. Memories from this world would stay with you, but anything from before then would slip away slowly. It was unbearable watching you slipping into a sort of madness as you forgot everything you had done before coming here; all of your friends and adventures. Quill was the last one you forgot about. After that you left for that lake and vanished. My guess is that this follows the laws of equivalent exchange; somewhat old fashioned, but it holds true. To get your memories back of Quill and his world, you would have to give up the memories made in this world, which is why you don't remember anything about this place."

"You mentioned a lake before…" Aamira said hesitantly. "What lake would that be?"

"The Eye of the Moon." Lugia said. "It exists in a hidden grove and can only be seen on certain nights, mainly the nights of the full moon when the eye is 'fully open' and on the new moon when it is 'fully closed'. You had been there to talk to the pokemon that lived there several times before, though I doubt you remember that now."

Aamira had a pretty good idea of who it was, but she decided not to mention that now. Instead, she distracted herself with another question. "Do you know where I got these scars from?"

Aamira felt Lugia tense up underneath her. He seemed to know, though he seemed reluctant to say anything. What she didn't know was that a few minutes later, after a while of complete silence while Lugia considered how best to answer, she would find out the answer in a less than expected way.

There was a loud screech from above them and a giant silver and gold bird cloaked in fire that must have been made up of every color, both known and unknown, swooped down on them.

"Hold on!" Lugia shouted.

He rolled to the right in the air as the giant bird just barely missed them. He inhaled a long breath and attacked with Aeroblast. It was amazing seeing a legendary pokemon's attack up close like this, though the bird quickly returned an attack of its own with a large purple flame. Lugia managed to dodge with the fire just barely grazing his left wing and climbed above the bird. It took a second for the enemy to realize where its target had run to. By then, Lugia had already attacked with Hydro Pump. The bird screeched and flew away in a way that resembled limping.

"That's what caused those scars." Lugia said. "My old partner, Ho-oh. The madness afflicting her is unlike any I've ever seen before or, dare I say, I will most likely ever see again. Long ago an old fury towards the humans who burned her tower was rekindled, so to speak, and nothing I said or did could quell it. I managed to lead her to this world, but have been unable to leave without risking the chance that she might escape. She has a deep-rooted hatred with humans now and the second she saw you for what you really were, she attacked."

"Ho-oh attacked Aamira when she realized that Aamira was really a human? You didn't tell me about that." Quill said. "Why am I just now hearing about it?"

Lugia hesitated for a moment. "It was a touchy subject before… Ho-oh didn't attack Aamira because she was once a human, but because Aamira had been born as a human."

"Doesn't that mean the same thing?" Aamira figured out almost instantly that it didn't though. "Born as a human. You mean human born? That it's because I'm a human-born pokemon?"

Lugia flapped vigorously and headed towards the ground. As soon as he landed, Aamira and Quill hurried off of his back. "Who told you about that!" he demanded.

This time Aamira hesitated. "My… future self. I think. And Shadow Lugia…"

Lugia sighed. "Your future self, I'm not sure about, though I would have expected Shadow to learn to be more careful about information like this!"

"So what's a human-born pokemon?" Quill asked.

"Ah, how do I explain this…" Lugia said. "Aamira was once a human who was turned into a pokemon. It's reasonable to assume then that it would work in reverse as well, correct? That a pokemon could become a human through certain means? So then, say if there were two pokemon, a male and female, who were both turned into humans at some point. Whether they knew the original form of the other or not, they somehow meet and end up falling in love. If later they get married and have a child, what would that child be? That human child would have been born from two pokemon who were no longer pokemon. In other words, they would be someone who was meant to be born a pokemon, but were born as a human as a result of the parents. Thus, a human-born pokemon."

"I was… supposed to be born a pokemon?" Aamira asked. For the first time she wondered what hatching from an egg would be like. She couldn't decide whether she liked the idea or not. "So my parents were at some point pokemon themselves?" Aamira wondered again the dream she had about the Lucario who she had interpreted as her mother. Maybe there had been something more to it after all. But then, who was her father? She had never thought much about it before, but he would have had to have been a pokemon too at some point.

"That's the gist of it anyway." Lugia said. "But just imagine; two pokemon turn their backs on their own race entirely. Not only that but to have children of their own afterwards, cursed into the life of being something they aren't. A human with one parent who was once a pokemon would be abnormally gifted in one thing or the other while a pokemon with a parent who was once human would be somewhat weaker than most pokemon. Can you imagine what it would be like to completely miss out on the chance of being a different species? Most pokemon with two human parents become more attached to humans and tend to shun pokemon, while the reverse is true for pokemon who are born as humans. While gifted in ways that most of either species couldn't imagine, they're often prone to violent tendencies and often a great era of fear would come soon after the arrival of one or the other."

Finally things were starting to make sense. But what would that mean for Aamira specifically? If she had this supposed curse from the Cyrus family and she was a human-born pokemon, what would those things together add up to? "So say if I remembered being from a specific family… How would that be possible? If my parents were both pokemon at one point and couldn't have been born into a certain family, how could that happen?"

"One of two ways. The first is obvious, though I don't think it would be what you're looking for. They could have become a human child and were adopted by that family. The second is more complex. It's a method similar to reincarnation, though slightly different as well. Say a pokemon was in danger and there was no way for them to escape from it. If a human happens to die at the same time they do before that human is born, then theoretically that pokemon could take the place of that human's soul. I doubt it could happen though. Only the most powerful of pokemon are capable of even attempting such a thing. For a pokemon of that level of strength, they normally wouldn't need to resort to such a method of defense."

This was getting more complicated by the second. Aamira couldn't begin to imagine something like that happening. If she hadn't erased her memory, maybe she would know something more about it. Since she had though, she decided not to dwell on it.

"Do you have a place for us to stay?" Aamira asked Lugia. "All I've been doing since getting to this world is running around like mad, avoiding enemies of all sorts. I'll explain more in detail later, but I'm exhausted."

"I'm not surprised." Lugia crouched down to allow Aamira to climb up on his back. "We'll walk the rest of the way. It's not far from here."

Aamira noticed that Quill had been quiet most of the time. Lugia must have told him the majority of this before. The way he walked beside Lugia was in a way that showed he was used to walking this path and had done so a few times already. Aamira had to feel slightly jealous. With all of the trouble she had been getting into, Quill was here with the legendary pokemon and seemed to have gotten used to being around him. It took a while to convince herself that Aamira had done the same the last time she had come to this world, even if she couldn't remember it.

Aside from how quiet he was, something seemed drastically different about him. He had this strange sort of nervousness that he was trying to hide. It almost seemed like he had done a lot of growing up over the past few days, but from what? She was too tired to ask at the time and just assumed they would catch up on it later on that night.

Up ahead Aamira noticed something that Ralts had mentioned once before; an entire forest growing horizontally out of the side of the cliff. Far up above them was what appeared to be a lone giant mountain covered in trees. The trees in the side of the cliff weren't exactly small. In spite of them being around the size of the ones in the forests of Sylva, the trees weren't drooping under their own weight. Gravity didn't seem to be having any effect on them whatsoever. They didn't even bend upwards in order to catch better light from the suns. Aamira was suddenly overcome with nausea and a sense of vertigo. Staring at the forest made her feel like she was standing on the side of a cliff. Her mind just wouldn't accept either of the things she was seeing and it was making her dizzy.

"You get used to it, kind of." Quill said after hearing Aamira's complaint. "From in the forest it really will look like we're standing on the side of a cliff right now."

"From in the forest?" Aamira said. "We're going in there?"

"It's only a little farther." Lugia assured her.

Quill ran towards the treetops and jumped through them. He disappeared under the leaves. Or maybe he was behind them? Aamira couldn't tell which anymore. After waiting for a few seconds, Lugia jumped down as well with Aamira still on his back. He twisted in the air and landed on the forest floor. Aamira looked up at the ground that she had previously been standing right side up on. It really did look like a cliff now that she was in this forest.

"Gravity is one of those laws that's distorted in this world." Lugia said. "Which way's up or down? There's not really any way to say for sure."

"Can't you just fly high enough to get above everything else?" Aamira asked.

"It would be easier to find out how to get around if that were the case." Lugia said. "Unfortunately this place isn't really in a set space. It's not on a round planet. There are places higher than I could ever fly. While flying against a high cliff I might suddenly find that I'm skimming along the ground if the gravity shifts. Even if I could fly high enough, which way would I fly in?"

"Lugia's mentioned all of this to me before…" Quill admitted. "Even so, I don't really understand any of this. But wait until you see the Sanctuary! It's amazing! It's just like Vine city, except different. There's a colossal tree in place of the academy that takes up the entire square where the academy would have been. And there must be berries of every type growing on it!"

"Really?" Aamira said. "How big is it exactly?"

"You'll see for yourself soon enough." Lugia said as he continued to walk through the forest. "I'll give you an idea of the size though. This tree is so big that it's said that the roots of the tree hold this entire world together. You probably saw it from the cliff without realizing it. From that distance the top of the tree looks like a giant forested mountain."

"That was the tree?" Aamira asked. "There's no way a tree could grow that big!"

"It's true." Quill said. "I didn't believe it at first either. Apparently only friends can come around the tree, so anyone that a person living there sees as an enemy can't come near it. Anyone who lives in the branches, beneath the roots, or on the ground directly under the canopy is safe from enemies like shadow pokemon or nightmares."

"This tree has a lot of names." Lugia said. "One of the most popular ones is the tree of life, which, according to legend, is where all vegetation in the universe originated from. In this world it's more commonly referred to as the Tree of Dreams. People used to leave berries at the roots of the trees in hopes that it would make their dreams come true. What most people don't know is that it was also where Ho-oh was originally hatched."

"I never think about the more powerful legendary pokemon having parents." Aamira admitted. "So how many legendary pokemon are there of each species?"

"It's difficult to say with absolute certainty." Lugia said. "As far as I know, Ho-oh and her parents were the last of their species. Her mother died when she was really young. Her father lived much longer. He grew to such a colossal size that many believed that the seeds and berries from this tree were scattered across the universe when he flapped his wings."

"I was a little apprehensive at first…" Aamira said. "This world seems so different from the one's we've been to before. Time and space distortions with distortions of various other laws too. The birthplace of legendary pokemon, even. But I'm guessing the Sanctuary under the tree must be just like any other city. People seem to be the same wherever we go, to an extent."

"Personality-wise, maybe." Quill said. "I've seen some weird pokemon around that tree though. One's that I've never seen before. Some that I've never even heard of, even back at the academy. One morning a pokemon woke me up when she started singing. I looked up in the tree branches and saw a bird pokemon that was two shades of grey, had a brown colored stomach, and the way the head was shaped looked like the hood on a cloak or something. She flew off before I could ask her name though."

"A cloak…" Aamira didn't know why she didn't remember until now, but she had so much to tell them. She had wanted to rest some first, but it didn't look like she was going to get the chance to sleep for a while now. They were somewhat closer to the Sanctuary than they had been when Lugia first found her, but it would take a while to get there. It was still nothing compared to the distance she had traveled before. She started, of course, by telling them about the situation with Lucario, Mismagius, and Honchkrow.

Quill seemed amazed when he heard all of the things that Aamira had been through over the last two days. Lugia, on the other hand, seemed somewhat concerned by what Aamira told him about Shadow's statue and that crystal that Hunter had been carrying around with him, but he waited for her to finish her story.

Afterwards Quill told her about all of the things he had been doing since they were separated. After falling into the ocean he swam for a while, but since he was still in the trance the Stantler had put them in at the time he hadn't been able to stay above the water for very long. Luckily Lugia had been in the area and he brought Quill back to the Sanctuary. He hadn't woken up until the morning after he fell into the water.

He spent most of the time looking after the younger pokemon, but had gone to search through the area for Aamira a few times also, sometimes getting stuck in different sectors if he went too far. Lugia had started patrolling the area where Quill had first fallen just in case, and this time it had paid off. Unfortunately, neither of them had run into Roy while they had been searching for one another.

"There's… someone else at the Sanctuary too…" Quill said. "Well there are a few people you might be interested in, but this guy is really something else. He scared me half to death when I first met him. It felt like I was seeing a ghost. Well, you'll see what I mean. He's usually patrolling the borders of the Sanctuary."

By this time they were really close. Aamira could sense someone's aura up ahead, but it didn't seem familiar at all. When that pokemon came into sight, Aamira thought that her aura must be playing tricks on her. Either that or it was her eyes, still confused by the vertigo she had previously experience. Sitting in the center of the path in front of them was an Umbreon who looked exactly like Shadow.

"Ah, you've found the other one." The Umbreon said. "It's about time. There's too much to be done to be so understaffed."

"This isn't a summer home, Shadow." Lugia said. "Don't speak as though we actually hire and pay employees here."

"He… He is Shadow then?" Aamira asked. She noticed that Shadow was smirking in a way that made it seem like he was amused by something.

"Not the Shadow we know. He just looks exactly like him." Quill said.

It was then that Aamira had remembered something that she had been told nearly a year ago. It made sense that she would have forgotten after such a long time, but to think he was here all along. "You're Shadow! Espeon's brother!"

Shadow's ears perked up and his smirk faded. "You've met my sister! What about the others? Are they alright?"

"Last we've heard…" Quill said. "I didn't know they had a brother named Shadow though. When did you learn something like that, Aamira?"

"When you told me…" Aamira said. "You had been with all of them and Leafeon, Flareon, and Vaporeon told you about him, remember? It was the day before our match in the tournament."

"It feels like that was so long ago…" Quill said. "I completely forgot."

"This is quite a development though." Lugia said. "To think the cold hearted Shadow actually had a family he cared so deeply about."

"It's… not really like that…" Shadow said, but he refused to elaborate. He didn't seem like the most social of pokemon. While they walked to the base of the tree, they told him about how Espeon had named their younger brother after him and how they all had assumed this Shadow had died in Desolo. He could hardly believe it. Not only that Espeon had had children and had named one after him, but that he had a niece and nephew now who were standing so near to him.

Lugia carried Aamira to one of the large roots of the tree. By this time it was dark and small holes cut into the roots to form windows were glowing with candle light. Aamira assumed that this tree must be immune to fire, since it was where three Ho-oh had once lived, one of which had lived to become a giant of a pokemon.

"You can stay here for now." Lugia said. "You had a room higher up in the tree the last time you stayed here, but I daresay you're too tired to go much further now."

"Not really." Aamira said. "I was tired before, but I feel like I have more energy after talking so much and meeting Shadow."

"I know how you feel, but trust me. You're more tired than you think. Quill and Shadow have already gone to their rooms to sleep and I myself shall do the same shortly. You have much to catch up on in the morning. You should rest up a little more before then."

Aamira nodded. She laid down in the hollow in the ground that was covered in what seemed like a huge pillow for a bed. It was a little too soft for her liking, and she wondered if her old room in this world had a hammock. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept in a hammock. When had it been? It had to be back on Grovyle's ship when returning from the Sea Temple. Or had the brigade building in Ignis had one? All of the buildings were alike in everything but the rooms, so it was hard to remember. She assumed there had been one in that room since they were staying there for an extended length of time.

In spite of the uncomfortably soft bed, Lugia was right. Aamira was so exhausted that she fell asleep almost the very second she laid down. It was a shame though; she finally got her scarf back and she had her music box, but now that she didn't have to worry about nightmares, she couldn't dream at all.

"Can you see it?"

"It's really here after all! Just like that story!"

"Where are Chupa and Speck at? They came back recently, didn't they?"

These voices had interrupted Aamira's dreamless sleep some time ago. Even so, she found it hard to open her eyes after having the first good rest that she had gotten since arriving in this world. Eventually she forced her eyes to open and saw some Pachirisu peering in at her through her open windows and doorway.

"It's awake! The Riolu's awake!" All of the Pachirisu screamed and ran off before Aamira even had time to make sense of what was going on.

'Eh, it was probably nothing. Just some kids messing around most likely. They probably heard that Quill and I were a couple of strong Investigators from another world so they decided to use us in their test of bravery or something.' Aamira laughed and closed her eyes to get a few more minutes of sleep. 'They can play their game all they want as long as they don't try to steal something of mine to prove their bravery.'

"Umm… excuse me… You are Aamira, aren't you?"

Aamira didn't know how long she had slept, if she had managed to sleep at all. She opened one eye groggily and looked at the Pachirisu who was standing in the doorway. She was starting to miss houses with doors and closing windows now.

"Do I know you…?" Aamira asked tiredly.

"You mean you don't remember me?" the Pachirisu asked. "It's me! Chupa! Don't you remember me and uncle Speck?"

Aamira figured that this Pachirisu was one of the pokemon she had met in this world before returning to her own and forgetting everything that had happened here. She stared blankly at the Pachirisu for a while, not expecting to be able to recall anything when it suddenly came back to her. "Chupa! One of the Pachirisu from Dream Town!"

"You remembered!" Chupa said. "I knew you would. All of the Pachirisu are so happy now. I wrote my book and decided to come back after my baby sister fell out of our tree. I read it to her since she couldn't read yet and decided to go back to tell everyone about the world below the mist in spite of what the elder said. Uncle Speck had been wanting to since we left, so he didn't mind. A lot happened after that. Crying was involved. An entire culture destroyed. But now it seems like no one ever lives in fear anymore. It's like a new world in more ways than one!"

"That's great, but… weren't you in that tree near Shroud Lake? What are you doing in this world?"

"Ah, you don't know about dreams then, huh?" Pachirisu said. "That's what we are. We were just dreamt up by someone apparently. I'm not entirely sure how it works though. But this is the world you see when you dream, though it looks different depending on how it's seen from the dreamer's perspective. You probably saw it as the same place as that Shroud Lake you mentioned."

"It was just a dream, wasn't it?" Aamira said. "But wait, if it was just a dream, how did those leaves end up in my bag back then? And how are you… real?"

"Well, I am a dream, like I said. But I'm not really sure entirely what that means. This world is where people go when they dream. I guess you just somehow brought those leaves back with you when you woke up. I don't know! It's kind of weird, isn't it?"

Aamira couldn't help smiling at this Pachirisu's cheerfulness. It was nice to see someone in this world that she did know about. Whether the other Pachirisu were happier now or not, no doubt there was still a sort of residual fear from when three of their friends had gone missing when she had shown up in their Dream Town. They decided to avoid other Pachirisu for now and go exploring on their own. Chupa knew a lot more about the Sanctuary than Aamira did, so she took it upon herself to show Aamira around.

While they wandered around, Aamira noticed a few people every now and then who would do a double take as they saw her. Apparently no one had ever expected her to return after she left the last time. Aamira only wished she remembered who they were. Would that be how it would be if she ever got back to the human world? She decided not to think too much about it.

Apparently there were three major cities in the Tree of Dreams. A city called Glaeba was under the ground in a vast network of tunnels formed by overlapping roots of the tree. Another city, called Radices was formed inside of the roots themselves above ground close to the trunk. The third city was Conopeum, which had houses that were formed inside of the lower tree branches. Apparently Dream Town was one of the few smaller cities that was inside a hollow spot in the tree close to the top. The tree was so big that it apparently took a full day of non stop climbing just to get there.

Inside the trunk of the tree at the base of the roots was apparently a shrine dedicated to Ho-oh and Lugia. That spot had once been a place where people would offer berries to the tree to make their dreams come true. Maybe that had been how Chupa was born? Aamira couldn't guess for sure, but she figured that all of the decaying berries must have made the soil really good for growing back when it was still a normal sized tree.

"Of course, Lugia and Ho-oh's shrine was destroyed some time ago. Not sure how though. There's a new pokemon there that's honored in place of the shrine though." Chupa said.

"What pokemon would that be?" Aamira asked.

"Lugia said it's called Cresselia. She was apparently a pokemon who filled people's sleep with good dreams and would wake them up to protect them from bad dreams. Other dream pokemon, like myself, look up to Cresselia and see her sort of as our mother. That's why if any of us come here, Cresselia's power keeps anyone around the tree safe. I guess she doesn't really differentiate between other types of pokemon as long as they're friendly and get along with everyone."

"So Cresselia protects the dream pokemon from the nightmares?" Aamira asked.

"Yea, how did you know? I didn't mention the nightmares, did it?" Chupa asked.

"No, but it sort of makes sense. Cresselia and Darkrai were enemies. If Darkrai makes the violent nightmares, then Cresselia must make the dream pokemon. And of course she would want to protect them from Darkrai's nightmares. Do you think you can take me to see her?"

"I can, but there's a bit of a problem with that…" Chupa said. "Well, you'll see…"

Chupa led Aamira to the hollow in the base of the tree trunk where the shrine once stood. In place of a shrine was a dais in the center of the hollow. Sitting on top of the dais was a statue that looked exactly like a Cresselia. Aamira could feel an astonishingly bright aura coming from it. She didn't have any doubts about what happened.

"She was turned to stone." Aamira said. "I've seen it a couple of times before."

"Apparently she was fighting a really strong pokemon and managed to come here before it happened. Lugia said she could talk to us if she wanted to, but apparently she's been in shock all of this time."

'It has to have been Darkrai.' Aamira thought. After all, what other pokemon would Cresselia have fought? And what pokemon would be capable of doing this other than her equal?

After a short explanation, Aamira went back outside to find Lugia. He seemed to be busy, since she had seem him flying about several times while she explored the area with Chupa. He didn't hesitate to land when he noticed Aamira calling for him. She decided that she should finally explain what had happened the couple of time she had encountered Darkrai and to ask him about that lake.

"It's true that Darkrai does live in the Eye of the Moon." Lugia said. "But he couldn't possibly be a villain."

"Why not?" Aamira asked. "What other pokemon would have aura dark enough to turn so many others into shadow pokemon? And who else could create nightmares other than Darkrai? Someone told me once that I carried around the treasure of the pokemon who was our enemy and I've had the Nightmare Gem with me the whole time. Who else could it be?"

"Anyone else." Lugia said. "Darkrai's not a bad pokemon. In fact, if the rest of the legendary pokemon, myself included, had only listened to the advice we were given, he might not have… Well, never mind that part. It's ancient history, even among legendary pokemon. The point is, it couldn't possibly be him!"

"Why not?" Aamira asked. "There's enough proof for me. He's been tormenting me in my nightmares for over a year. When I tried scrying, I saw a pokemon with blue eyes like his."

"But you couldn't see anything but his eyes." Lugia pointed out. "While you bring up valid points, I can't accept that Darkrai has been working against us. In fact, he's helped us on more than one occasion."

"Wait, you mean he comes here from time to time?" Aamira asked.

Lugia shook his head. "No, of course not. This is a place of light. A pokemon of pure darkness can't enter this area, whether friend or foe. But it doesn't matter. As you've said, Darkrai lives in the Eye of the Moon. We have known for the longest time where our true enemy hides."

"You have!" Aamira said. "Then why don't you… that is to say, we… why don't we do something?"

Lugia bent down far enough for Aamira to climb up on his back. She was somewhat reluctant to go with him if he wasn't going to put more consideration into what she was saying, but she climbed onto his back anyway. He flew out from under the tree branches and above the shorter trees that made up the rest of the forest. After circling around the larger tree, something sinister came into view that had been hidden the previous day when they had been standing on the edge of the cliff. Hovering high above the forest was a castle floating upside-down on a large stone.

"That's where they live…?" Aamira asked. "They're so close! I understand why they don't attack since the tree is here and Cresselia's power protects the pokemon who live under it, but why can't we just bring the fight to them, then?"

"Because of the barrier." Lugia flew back over to the tree and landed on the edge of one of the branches. "There's a powerful barrier protecting the inverted castle. It's possible to break it, but we would need a large amount of power. If I could combine my strength with Ho-oh's then it would be a simple matter. You've seen the state she's in, however. It most likely woouldn't be any time soon that the barrier would break under normal circumstances."

"What do you mean?" Aamira asked.

Lugia looked up at the sky. "There's a battle looming ahead. In a few days time, perhaps only one or two at the earliest, there will be a Great Eclipse. All three of the suns and the two moons will line up at the same time. It will be the third in the history of our entire universe."

"What's so special about this eclipse?" Aamira asked. "Aside from it being so rare, that is."

"Haven't you ever wondered why that symbol you wear on the scarf around your neck is of a solar eclipse? The first eclipse happened long before Darkrai or Cresselia came into existence, so it has nothing to do with their treasures. The solar eclipse is the Aura Reader's symbol because the last Great Eclipse happened on the day the first Aura Reader, who was also the first Riolu, was born. Aura Readers and Dark Readers alike have a strong attachment to it. During that eclipse you'll know power that you've never seen before."

"And that could break the barrier?" Aamira asked.

Lugia shook his head. "Technically, yes, but the eclipse would also negate both Darkrai and Cresselia's power along with the barrier around that castle. We would be vulnerable here, Darkrai's lake will open in a way that few have ever seen, though I myself am not entirely sure what will happen then, and the barrier on the castle would break, leaving us with a chance to attack."

"But only if they don't attack first." Aamira said. "So if Darkrai's not the one in that castle, like you say, then who is it? Who else would be affected by the eclipse?"

"Who isn't affected by it, you mean." Lugia said. "However, that is one mystery we weren't able to solve before. We have no idea who the pokemon is that lives in that castle. Though maybe, now that you perspective has changed from returning to your world for a time, you'll be able to figure it out. I had promised you this before. I think it's time that you read the legend for yourself."

Lugia dove back into the air below them and flew to a lower area in the tree. He stopped near a building that was built into a tree branch, most likely part of Conopeum. He waited outside while Aamira went in. The building was like a library. Aamira found Quill waiting inside. He looked grim and reluctant to speak.

"I had a feeling Lugia would bring you here." Quill said. "When I found out that he had the legend written here, I begged him to let me read it, but I regret it now…"

"I have to know for sure." Aamira said. "I have to see it for myself."

Quill nodded and reluctantly stepped aside to allow her to walk to the back of the room where there was a large scroll rolled up on a table. While the rest of the room was an unorganized scrawl covered in scrolls and old tomes, no other books or scrolls came close to this one. This had to be it, finally. On one end of the scroll was a mark that looked like the sun. On the opposite end was one that looked like the moon. The scroll was thick and would no doubt take a long time to read. Surprisingly it was written in English, which made it a little easier to take in.

Aamira stood there in front of the table reading for what felt like the whole day. Every word of what was written there felt as if it was being branded into her subconscious. She had no doubt that, if asked twenty years from then, she would be able to repeat every single word of that legend by heart.

When Aamira was done, she didn't notice that her hands were shaking as she rolled the scroll back up and sat it neatly on the table. How something could be so detailed and vague at the same time, she would never know. It would come down to a choice at some point, as she had heard before. A choice that she would have to make alone, which was clearly emphasized. "Without friends or loved ones, rivals or adversaries, the human-born Dark Reader will reach an impossible decision. In the end, the worst outcome will come to pass, the wrong choice made, and the pokemon of this legend will become the bane of reality itself."

Aamira was feeling faint. She assumed it was from reading for so long, though she hadn't even noticed that she hadn't eaten at all that day. So this is why Quill seemed so different. This legend of the Dark Reader who would become the bane of their reality couldn't be referring to anyone but herself.

She turned back to Quill to ask for a second opinion on this, though he clearly had none. The look on his face was too much to bear. Aamira ran to Quill and, unknowing what else she could do, hugged him tightly and started to cry.

From that day on, Aamira never read another book.


	54. Chapter 54 Quill Captured

Quill wanted to say something comforting to Aamira, but as much as he tried, the words just wouldn't come to him. What could he say in a situation like this? Of course that legend had brought his worst fears to reality too. How many times had Honchkrow told him that he was going to betray Aamira? To actually read his imminent betrayal in the legend, though, was something entirely different.

"We don't have to stay here, you know?" Quill was trying to fight back tears of his own now. He thought he had used them all up the first time he read the legend. "We can run off together. We could find a way back to my world or maybe go to your world if we can find a way. Whatever we do, we can't believe what that legend says. I know I would never betray you, so there's no way to could become the bane of reality. It's just ridiculous!"

Aamira had noticed the parts that mentioned Quill's betrayal as well. She had to agree that it sounded ridiculous. How could he? Quill was, without a doubt, the person that Aamira felt that she could trust the most. Reading some legend about how he would betray her didn't change how she felt. Why, then, did she believe what it had said about herself?

'Because I've doubted myself from the start…' She thought. 'This dark aura really is nothing but a curse. Ever since I found out about my dark aura I've been worried about what effect it would have on me. Even so, I don't even know for sure if that's what will cause it. It's possible that this choice I have to make could be something so small that I would never even notice making it.'

"I just don't see how there's any way to prevent any of this…" Aamira said. "I trust you more than anyone and I could never see you betraying me, but what it said about that choice I would have to make…"

"Of course you would make the right choice!" Quill said. "You've always been able to find your way out of any situation! What was it that you said that one time? That there's always a third choice? Another way out?"

"And you think that running away now will be what fixes things?" Aamira asked. "I don't think I could accept that. What if deciding to leave or stay actually is that choice I have to make?"

Lugia stood outside the library watching the two of them trying to comfort one another and be comforted by the other. It was so strange how they both doubted themselves and yet didn't doubt the other for even a second. There was definitely an unbreakable trust between those two. Lugia looked up at the castle, which was just partially visible behind the giant leaves of the tree. He saw Ho-oh circling up above it and immediately whished that things could go back to the way they were before Ho-oh became so corrupted.

Stay or leave? Lugia doubted that he could make the decision in their position. He probably would have run himself at one point. Even so, he knew that he was fighting for a reason. That reason was to free Ho-oh from the control of their enemy. But for them? Who did they have but each other? They had no business being caught up in this mess. Even so, in order to get through this, he needed an Aura Reader's help during the eclipse. Being with her partner, who was an Aura Guardian, during that time would make both of them even stronger. Even so, how could he force two children into this? This was becoming difficult for Lugia as well.

"Well, what did you think of it?" Lugia asked, not surprised to see the two of them jump. It seemed that they had completely forgotten that he was here. "I only need to know if it provided any obscure clues that you could use as insight to our adversary's identity. After I have your answer, you're free to leave if you so choose."

"I couldn't figure it out…" Aamira admitted. "Any mention of them was vague. It would never be enough to build an identity from."

"I was afraid you would say that…" Lugia said. "Well, stay or go. I won't try to influence your decision at all."

"Hold on!" Aamira said. "We can't leave, can we? If we leave this tree, the enemy will just keep attacking us left and right!"

"Yea, Aamira's right!" Quill said. "And if we do stay, you can't just expect us to cower inside our rooms any not lend any help whatsoever!"

Lugia smiled. 'Amazing how they use such logic to convince themselves to make a decision like this. I feel that for them it would be the right decision to stay and help, but I hope they won't regret it later.'

"Lugia!" A small white pokemon jumped out of the tree from above them and landed on Lugia's nose. Aamira recognized it as Chupa's uncle.

"What is it, Speck?" Lugia asked.

Speck seemed out of breath, but even so he managed to deliver his message. "A pokemon has shown up in the sanctuary. He's badly hurt but all of the healers are busy with treating other injured pokemon. I don't think he can last much longer."

"Let's go!" Quill said.

Aamira wondered what he could be talking about. Then she remembered that he had some knowledge of healing and that she had picked up some tricks too while working in their team. She had been in shock from reading the legend, but now she realized what Quill had meant. 'I have to stay confident for Quill's sake. I won't let Quill down when he's trying his hardest to keep things together. This legend won't control me!'

Aamira and Quill ran to Lugia, who lowered his neck so the two of them could climb up onto his back. Once they were in place, they followed Speck's directions to where the injured pokemon had been found. He flew at top speed to the edge of the Sanctuary where a bunch of pokemon were gathered around.

As soon as Lugia landed, all of the other pokemon hurried to make room for him and the others. Aamira and Quill jumped off of Lugia's back, but Aamira could barely force herself to take another step. She recognized the injured pokemon at once as Lucario.

Memories of how he had acted towards her when he found out about her aura suddenly came back to her. Then there was that crystal of Hunters. Apparently in the future she had killed Lucario. Of course, it could have been any Lucario. Why did saying "Lucario" automatically mean this one? Even so, she couldn't shake the feeling that it had been what it meant. Aamira felt ashamed for simply looking in his general direction now.

"What are you doing?" Quill shouted, snapping Aamira out of her trance. "Hurry up!"

"Oh… right."

Aamira hurried over to Lucario with Quill. Quill knew more about mixing berries together to make different medicines and healing drinks, so Aamira tried her best to bandage Lucario's wounds as quickly as she could. All of these cuts… it was definitely from when the Murkrow had attacked him. She couldn't believe it. Lucario had been wandering around all of this time in this sort of condition!

'I was completely helpless then…' Aamira kept thinking as she finished with the bandages. 'I couldn't do anything but watch as those Murkrow pushed him over that cliff. If I had just been a little stronger, maybe I would have been able to do something…'

Getting Lucario to drink the mixture of the berry juices wasn't as difficult as Quill had expected it to be. He was apparently dehydrated so even unconscious he was anxious to drink something. Quill sighed and sat on the ground, glad that it was over. It looked like Lucario was going to be okay now, but they really had gotten there just in time. It was amazing what a few berries could do. He could take a break now and Lucario could get some food and water once he woke up. Now that he was inside the Sanctuary, there wasn't any danger of him being attacked again.

It seemed like hours before he finally started to wake up. He seemed somewhat confused when he saw all of the pokemon standing close to him. One he recognized as Quill, though he had no idea what he was doing here.

"You're Quill…" Lucario said. "It seems like a long time, doesn't it…?"

"I guess it does." Quill said. "After all, the last time we saw each other was in Desolo. Whereas Aamira's been seeing you in dreams of some sort ever since she reappeared."

"Do you know where she is?" Lucario asked.

"She's…" Quill looked around, but Aamira had apparently left. When had she left? He could have sworn she had been here only a few minutes ago. It must have been just as Lucario started to wake up. "She's around here somewhere…"

Aamira hid in the most remote area she could find of the tree. She was glad that Lucario was okay and that he was able to fight off the Murkrow, but what was she supposed to say to him now? She would have to tell him about what happened with Mismagius, of course. And then about Hunter? She didn't know if that part was necessary. This whole thing was so frustrating. And of course she had solved it as she had in the past; running away and convincing herself that everyone would be safer if she wasn't around. Of course, hadn't that made everything worse in the end?

Aamira felt around her ears and aura sensors just to make sure that Honchkrow didn't somehow hide another bug. He hadn't, unless he hid it somewhere else. Maybe she would just stay here for a few minutes and head back after a while. She could make up some sort of excuse of why she had to leave so suddenly and hopefully everything would be okay in the end.

"Is everything okay?" Aamira turned to see a green fairy-like pokemon floating right beside her.

"Oh, Celebi. I wasn't expecting you to be here." Aamira said.

Celebi glared at Aamira for a second. "That's it? I was thinking I would startle you by sneaking up while your guard was down. You don't even sound so surprised I'm here!"

"Ah, sorry." Aamira turned away and looked out over the forest. She was only sitting on top of a root and even then she was above the other trees. "I've just got a lot on my mind lately, I guess. For curiosity's sake, how are you here?"

"Normally I would ask if we've met yet, but I know we already have. I was the Celebi from the future that disappeared when time was altered. You know, this world is where things that don't exist can still exist, so I never really died or anything. I just live in this world now. The time that I'm from is part of a parallel space now so theoretically I could get back to living there if I could find the right doorway. It's such a dreary world though. I think I'll stay here for a while."

That's right, Celebi was from the world that Hunter and Ruko came from. It was Celebi who brought them to the past in the first place and Ruko who apparently convince him to do it, based on that vision that Aamira had seen. "So what's it like in the world you come from?"

"Dreary, like I said. Hard to explain. Everything is just sort of static. It doesn't seem like anything ever happens there."

"And what about… me? Have you met my future self?"

"Who hasn't?" Celebi said. "Well at least everyone's seen you before. You seemed like a decent person back then at least. You thought that the world that resulted from the legend needed some sort of guidance, so you and Lucario sort of took over. Everyone was happy about it for the most part. It was peaceful enough until Lucario died."

"How did it happen?" Aamira asked. "And what was Quill doing if Lucario and I had taken over?"

"Quill?" Celebi said. "We don't talk about the situation with him. Trust me, you don't want to know. Lucario's death is a mystery though. Hunter found you near him after he was killed. It could have just been an assumption, but I'm not sure. You really did change after that though. Maybe it was just to find the person who really killed him. I don't know."

So Hunter had been the one who found them after Lucario died. "I'm almost afraid to ask, but what does Hunter have to do with me and Lucario?"

"Another mystery to me unfortunately. I'm not sure where he's from, but you and Lucario apparently took him in and had Ruko look after him. You would check in on him every now and then, but for the most part he just went through all of his training with Ruko."

"I assume you don't know much about Ruko?" Aamira asked.

Celebi shook his head. "Sorry. Ruko showed up just as suddenly as Hunter, only a little while before Hunter showed up. There's really not much else to say."

Aamira hesitated. She wanted to know more about the future, but she was scared to know at the same time.

"You know there is some hope left, if you want to know a little secret." Celebi said. "That legend you read? You shouldn't put too much stock into it, I don't think. There were rumors floating around the Investigation Teams of my world that the legend might have been altered somehow. Prophecies are always written as riddles though. It would be difficult to alter them and as they're so hard to decipher in the first place, there probably wouldn't be any point."

"So you're saying the legends inaccurate!" Aamira asked excitedly. "So I should find the prophecy to find out for sure!"

"It's just speculation, mind you. Did you notice how the scroll had a sun and moon on it though? It makes me wonder if maybe there's actually more than one legend; one with a positive outcome and one with a negative outcome depending on the choices you make."

'Based on our choices!' Aamira thought. 'So maybe it's not too late! Maybe there's still a chance I can make the right choice when it comes down to it. If that happens, there's sure to be a better outcome!' Aamira was so happy that she jumped towards Celebi and hugged him, nearly knocking him out of the air.

"Alright, alright, I'm glad I could help but calm down!" Celebi said as Aamira released him. "You nearly bent my wings. I think it's time you went to find your friends. I have some business here I need to take care of too. I need to try to get Cresselia to come out of her shocked state."

Aamira nodded and watched as Celebi flew off towards Cresselia's shrine. She was feeling better now, though that turned to apprehension as soon as she thought of rejoining Lucario and Quill. She knew that she had to do it though. She had to find out more about the prophecy and the possible alternate legend and she was going to need their help. Even so, something Celebi said seemed to not want to leave her mind.

"Quill? We don't talk about the situation with him. Trust me, you don't want to know."

What had happened to Quill, she wondered. The way Celebi said it, it almost sounded as if something bad had happened, either to Quill or as a result of something he did. What a terrible thought. Aamira knew that she shouldn't tell Quill that part any time soon. He would immediately assume it had something to do with his apparent future betrayal, though they didn't know for sure if that would happen now.

'Of course it won't happen!' Aamira thought. 'It would never happen. Quill and I are too close for one of us to turn against the other.'

Aamira ran off in the direction of where they had found Lucario. She found out from some other pokemon that were passing by that he was moved to one of the rooms built into the tree roots once he regained more of his strength. After a while, Lucario and Quill were in range so that Aamira could track the two of them with their aura.

"It's about time!" Quill turned to Aamira when she ran in, but Lucario hadn't even acknowledged that she had come in.

"Is everything alright?" Aamira asked.

"You think it wouldn't be?" Lucario said. "Why did you run off?"

"I…" Aamira had thought of some excuses to use before, but it didn't seem right to use them now. Strangely enough though, it was just as difficult as ever to face Lucario. "I just… had to sort out my thoughts for a while. I'm sorry. I should have stayed until you regained consciousness."

"Hmm…" Lucario glanced towards her for a second then looked away again.

Aamira had the feeling that he already knew what she had done. Even so, she felt like she had to say it. Without waiting for Lucario to acknowledge her again, she went into her story of the events that had taken place after they were separated. She could tell that Lucario was listening to every word, in spite of pretending to ignore her. Was he really this mad at her just for leaving while he was injured?

"So after all of that time spent trying to defeat Mismagius, you released her?" Lucario asked.

"I had to!" Aamira said. "If I didn't… Honchkrow had a lot more of those Murkrow minions that he could have sent after you. You might not have been able to escape. Besides, I don't think that Mismagius is really a bad person after she told me what happened."

Lucario turned to face her for the first time since she had returned. "After she told you. You can't trust a thing that Mismagius tells you. She's a liar by nature and as far as I know has always been like that. Aside from that, you let her steal the Aura Scepter. Most likely we'll never see it again, so we're completely defenseless the next time she tries to take over Atra again."

"But the way she spoke… you just don't understand."

"YOU don't understand!" Lucario snapped at her. "Mismagius raised me from when I was practically a hatchling! I know what she's like more than anyone else. And now after all of that work… One of my students and my own teacher died because of her. I thought I had lost you too for the longest time. It was because of her. Everything bad that's ever happened has been because of her!"

"To you." Aamira corrected. "She was behind everything bad that had ever happened to you. You're letting your own personal feelings get in the way of a perfectly logical explanation. If you would just stop and think about this for a few minutes then—"

"I'm not as gullible as I was as a hatchling, Brighteyes!"

Aamira hearing her nickname coming from Lucario stunned her to silence. Where had he heard it from? It didn't matter. He was about to speak again before Quill cut in.

"Stop. Just stop, both of you!" he snapped at them. "Lucario, I don't really understand what's making you act this way. I know Aamira's aura changing is a bit of a shock, but she's still the same Aamira. She only freed Mismagius to try to save you. There was nothing else that she could have done in that situation!" Quill turned to Aamira. "And you. You should know the sort of things that Lucario has gone through. Just asking him to stop and think logically after being as hurt by Mismagius as he was is just asking too much this early on. Honestly, I thought that you could be a little more sensitive than that!"

Aamira and Lucario both stared at Quill and looked back at each other for a fraction of a second. Lucario turned over in his bed so that he was facing towards the wall and Aamira walked out calmly, though Quill could tell that the two of them were still furious. And here he was, left alone in between the two of them. He had never imagined that they could get into an argument like this. They had argued before, but it had never been like this.

Aamira wandered towards Cresselia's shrine, wondering if Celebi had had any luck with getting her to speak. Lugia was standing there with Celebi with his tail curled around Cresselia's statue in order to make room in the small space. Neither of them were looking very optimistic.

"It's no good." Celebi said when Aamira walked in. "She won't even acknowledge we're hear. She's completely shutting everyone out."

"This isn't like her." Lugia said. "Cresselia was always such a social pokemon who would spend every waking minute spending time with other pokemon. I can't imagine what could have done this to her."

"Could I try?" Aamira asked.

"You could try, I suppose." Lugia said. "You had tried to speak to her several times before, though you don't remember that now. Go for it, if you think maybe something's changed."

Aamira walked up to Cresselia's statue and placed her hand near the stone. She closed her eyes and formed an Aura Sphere the way she would if using Aura Seal or Release. She waited for a second, unsure of what to do next, and a powerful force that felt like being slammed into by a stampeding Tauros through Aamira out of the hollow of the tree.

'Stay away! Don't you dare come near me again!' the three of them looked around for the source of the voice, though they couldn't see where any other speaker might be.

"Cresselia?" Lugia asked.

'Leave me alone! Go away, all of you!' she shouted to them all telepathically.

"Cresselia, could you listen for a moment?" Celebi asked. "We wanted to know what pokemon had attacked you and turned you into a statue. Could you tell us?"

They could all feel Cresselia's rage emanating from her. Aamira felt nearly the same way she had whenever she had been near Darkrai. It was amazing how scary a legendary pokemon could be when they were mad.

'It was that Darkrai!' she shouted. 'That traitor! How dare he! He will pay dearly for this!'

"Stand back." Lugia positioned himself between Aamira and Cresselia. "Why did you attack Aamira?"

'It's his aura! She's done it, hasn't she? Made that pact with that evil hearted pokemon. He had me fooled, all along! This is what he wanted from the start! My power slowly dwindling and the pokemon from that accursed legend under his control! You've already gone and doomed yourselves! Get out now and leave me alone!'

Lugia and Celebi hurried out of the shrine and immediately things calmed down. Celebi tried again to talk to Cresselia, but she had gone back to ignoring them as if nothing had happened.

"Your aura has turned dark since the last time you've tried to speak with her." Lugia said. "It must be similar to Darkrai's which is why she lashed out at you like that. I'm sorry you had to see it; legendary pokemon in general tend to become unreasonable when enraged. I wouldn't think too much about what she said in her hysterical state, though I think we've proven one thing here."

Celebi nodded. "It looks like Darkrai is the bad guy after all. It's sort of hard to believe, you know? I mean, he looks scary, but he never seemed like a bad person…"

"What can we do?" Aamira asked.

"Now we know the face of our opponent for certain." Lugia said, though he didn't really sound too certain. "The eclipse will start within the next couple of days. By then I'm sure I could formulate a battle plan, if you're still willing to help."

"Of course I am!" Aamira said.

Lugia nodded. "Good. Get to bed then. Chupa is waiting near the top of the roots to show you to where your old room is, since Lucario has taken the one you had used last night."

Aamira nodded. It was getting late and she suddenly realized how tired she really was. She realized for the first time that she hadn't eaten at all that day and decided to do so once she got to her room, just before going to bed. She left the two legendary pokemon, trying to keep thoughts of Cresselia and Lucario out of her mind.

Lucario turned to Celebi once Aamira had left. "What do you plan on doing now? This place will not be safe for much longer as you know. Will you go back to your own world or stay and help us fight?"

Celebi swayed in the air uneasily, mulling it over to himself for a while. "I don't know, there's something about this that I don't like."

Lucario nodded. "I know what you mean, but the evidence against Darkrai really is overwhelming."

"I know but… I think I'll go check some things before deciding on what to do. Cresselia was supposed to know for sure, but I'm not so sure after seeing the state she was in. I'll just do a little snooping and I'll come back before the eclipse starts."

"If that's what you think is best." Lucario watched as Celebi flew off towards the forest. He stood there for a while, enjoying the cool night air, wondering if he would be able to enjoy it again after this night, and flew towards the top of the tree where he made his home in a nest of interlocking branches.

Quill was walking through the sanctuary, trying to clear his head of all of these unpleasant things that had been happening lately. The worst of it, surprisingly, hadn't been reading that legend, but listening to Aamira and Lucario fighting. It wasn't just that he could hear it, but it also seemed like he could feel it, almost as if they had been fighting with their aura as well as their words. It probably wasn't too farfetched, even if they didn't realize they were doing it.

He wasn't tired, even though by now it was nearly midnight. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen and it wasn't a pleasant sort of feeling. Quill was walking near the edge of the forest when he heard some rustling in the bushes. He turned, ready to attack, though he knew he should be protected under the tree.

"Quill, it's me." Celebi poked his head out from behind the bushes. "Is anyone else still awake?"

Quill didn't understand why Celebi was whispering, but he walked closer so he could speak with him easier without being overheard. "Lucario's asleep. His injuries are still pretty extensive so he needs to rest. Aamira's exhausted, of course. She probably went to bed a few hours ago. I think Lugia's asleep too. I haven't seen him in a while."

"Good, listen. I need your help with this." Celebi said. "Lugia would absolutely hate this idea, but I think I'm really onto something. It looks like Darkrai really is our enemy, and I think I found a secret entrance into the castle while snooping around. It's in a place that the barrier doesn't reach."

"Really?" Quill said. "That's great! So what did you need my help with?"

"In the future you, Aamira, and Lucario played vital roles in the battle. So did Lugia, of course, so I don't want to wake any of the others up. The fewer people I can get the better, so our forces aren't too widely spread out. See, I found some Murkrow a while ago. I overheard them talking about bringing in a prisoner through a secret passage. The thing is, most legendary pokemon have aura that's purely light. Darkrai would be able to see me coming as if I was glowing a bright neon green."

"So you want me to sneak in?" Quill asked. "What for?"

"Honchkrow has a lot of Murkrow working for him. I mean A LOT. More than we could have expected. Aside from that, Darkrai's managed to capture several other pokemon to turn them against us. Not to mention his army of Nightmares that he's building up. Each Nightmare takes energy to make, so it will take some time, but if we wait for the eclipse we'll be doomed for sure unless we have someone to ruin their plans."

"Sounds logical, but what exactly do you need me to do?" Quill asked.

"Darkrai creates his Nightmares by dreaming them up. It's the only time he ever sleeps. Most likely, he'll stay asleep until the eclipse. I've done some looking around and asked a few pokemon living outside the Sanctuary if they had seen Darkrai. He normally shows up frequently, but no one's seen him since Aamira's shown up here."

"So he's most likely sleeping right now to build up an army."

Celebi nodded. "Looks like it. While Darkrai's asleep, Honchkrow would most likely be left in charge. He'll probably be too busy to be keeping an eye out for intruders himself, but the Murkrow will still be around. They're not as vigilant though and I doubt any of the Nightmares will be intelligent enough to spread word about you breaking in. They'll most likely just attack and they should be weaker while Darkrai's asleep. So here's what you have to do; since Darkrai will be asleep to make the Nightmares, you just have to attack him once. Doing this should paralyze him for a while and should get rid of the Nightmares that he's already created. That should cut their forces by a huge amount. Do you think you can do it?"

"It sounds good if you think this is really going to work. One of my ancestors was your Guardian, right? I'll trust your judgment then, if you honestly think this is going to work."

"I know it will. With any luck it should make the barrier around the castle collapse too. During that time we could attack before the eclipse even starts. After you attack Darkrai, run before anyone sees you. I'll be waiting back by the secret entrance. We'll leave for the castle as soon as you're ready."

Quill nodded. "I'm ready now. Let's go."

Aamira was sleeping well. It wasn't a deep sleep or one of those times where she was too uncomfortable to only fall asleep partway. As she had hoped, she had a hammock in this world. She missed sleeping in one. This one was made of a sort of electrified thread similar to Spinarak thread that was charged with electricity. It sounded unpleasant at first, but instead of shocking her, it just made it feel really warm and she fell asleep almost instantly.

A few hours before dawn, she woke up and started to feel sick. She hung her legs over the side of the hammock and steadied herself with her hands on her knees. The last time she felt this bad was when Mismagius had hidden in her shadow. That was impossible though. Lucario saw her as an enemy and since he was inside the Sanctuary, she couldn't come in here.

"Where is he?"

Aamira jumped up and looked around. She didn't sense Darkrai nearby, and he was difficult to miss, but she was sure she had heard his voice. "Where is who?"

"Your little friend. Where is he?"

Little friend? Was Darkrai threatening to do something to Quill? She tried to see if she could sense Quill's aura, but she couldn't sense him anywhere nearby. "Where's Quill!"

"Wouldn't know."

Aamira kept trying to search for him, sensing the aura of people farther than she had ever been able to before out of desperation. She tried to calm down in an attempt to resonate with Quill's emotions to get some sort of clue as to where he was.

Thanks to their training with the cards that Espeon had helped Aamira win, they had gotten pretty good at it. She was able to get a basic idea of what his surroundings were like. Somewhere dark, slightly cold. It smelled damp, not really like mist or humidity, but just running water. There was some sort of annoyance. The best Aamira can think of is that it's because Quill's fur is wet and he can't use his fire. The surrounding area is made of stone too hard to dig through. There's no way to get out, as far as she could tell.

Aamira nearly jumped when she felt Quill's surprise. He himself jumped when he felt Aamira's concern out of nowhere. He tried to send a message as simply and clearly as he could. It came through clearly. He needed help desperately.

"Where are you?" Aamira tried to ask purely through her emotions. Nothing in Quill's emotions seemed to change for a while, so she was afraid it didn't get through. As it turned out, he was just trying to think of a way to describe the location through emotions.

There were a few things Aamira understood from it. A long tunnel leading through earth, cold air, as if from somewhere high up, the sense of something related to fire and flight, lots of stone. Aamira had an idea of where this could be, but it became more obvious when he recalled the claustrophobic feeling they had gotten from being locked in Atra's castle. There was no doubt about it. He was somewhere in the Inverted Castle. She guessed from the feeling she got of a long tunnel that there was some sort of secret passage that led inside.

The minute she started thinking about this, she got an urgent warning from Quill. It seemed to say, "Don't go near there!" Some sort of trap, most likely. That was probably how Quill had been captured. Using that secret passage would mean that she would be certain to be caught.

A sudden feeling of panic hit Aamira through Quill. In his cell in the castle, he stood up when he heard the sound of one of the steel doors opening and slamming shut again. Aamira only got a slight sense of who it was before Quill's emotions were cut off from hers. It was Sandshrew.

Aamira ran out of her room, startled by how bright it was already. Even so, it looked like Lugia wasn't awake yet. Aamira couldn't do this alone; there was no way! She ran down to where Lucario was staying. Apparently he couldn't sleep because he was standing outside staring up at the sky. It looked like he had mostly recovered from his injuries by now. Even if he was still weak, it was better than having to go alone.

"Lucario, you have to help. Quill's been captured." Aamira tried not to sound too desperate, but failed miserably.

"What gives you that idea?" Lucario asked. "I'm sure you're overreacting. He's probably just eating breakfast somewhere."

"Just listen to me! I can tell where he is. He found a secret entrance into the castle where Darkrai lives somehow, but apparently there was some sort of trap waiting on the other side and he got captured. We have to save him!"

"Just calm down!" Lucario snapped at her. "Think about this logically, like you told me to do yesterday. Quill told me about the castle floating in the air. How could he have gotten there? How could he have known about that passage? How would the people guarding the passage know he was coming? It doesn't make any sense!"

"I don't care if it doesn't make any sense, its true!" Aamira took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Look, I don't care if you're mad at me for whatever reason, I need help now. Even if you're mad at me, yesterday Quill was the one who treated most of your injuries. Don't you owe him enough to want to save him too?"

"I would, but I don't believe he's in any danger." Lucario said. "Quill is your friend, so if you really think he's in danger then go risk your own life to save him."

"Wait…" Aamira said. "Are you jealous of Quill?"

Lucario's ear twitched and he stared at her straight in the eyes for the first time since the previous night. "Don't be ridiculous. What reason do I have to be jealous of Quill?"

"I don't know, but I think it's true. Are you really not going to help him just because of some sort of jealousy you have towards him?"

Lucario didn't answer. Aamira didn't have time for this; Quill was in danger. She ran off towards the forest, not caring about the Nightmares or shadow pokemon that were hiding in it. If she was going to get any dependable help, she was going to have to look somewhere else.

This was either the best thing she could do in this situation, or the stupidest. She didn't even consider that her choice in a person to help her might be driven by some new grudge that she developed towards Lucario. Either way, she knew that she needed a way to break the barrier, and there was only one pokemon who she thought might be capable by himself.

Lucario watched her run off, but wasn't too concerned. Quill had no way of being in that castle in the first place. Anyway, Aamira could take care of herself. If that was the case, why did he suddenly feel so anxious?

"You're not going to go after her?" Lucario turned to see Lugia standing behind him.

"How long have you been there?" Lucario asked.

"Not long. I just happened to be flying over when I saw Aamira running off. You know, the last time she ran off like this she ended up at Darkrai's lake and when she didn't come back, no one thought they would ever see her again."

Lucario took a minute to let this sink in. The pokemon who lived in that castle was Darkrai and she was trying to get there. 'That little fool! Quill's the bait and she's running straight into Darkrai's trap!' Lucario shouted at himself in frustration and ran off to find her. She had already gotten a head start of a few minutes and Lucario had no idea which direction she would be going in. Without a doubt she would be heading towards the castle. Lucario would just have to run and meet her there and hope that he's not too late.


	55. Chapter 55 The Inverted Castle

She was almost there. The ocean couldn't be too far away. Aamira had already found the way out of the forest and was walking along what had appeared to be a cliff from the forest floor. Any minute now she would find the ocean. When she did… What then? She hadn't thought that far ahead, but she had to hurry before something bad happened to Quill.

Finally, after around two hours of running without stop, she found the shore of the ocean. She was glad to see that this shore was just like the shores of any other ocean and not floating in the air or something ridiculous like that as she had come to expect from this world.

So now what? Even if Aamira could swim and managed to find where she had first fallen into the water, she couldn't possibly get into the air and find the doorway that led her here. She stared blankly out at the ocean, trying to think of some sort of solution and wishing Latias was here to help her. She had probably been too hasty in running off and should have asked Lugia for help, but would he approve of what she was going to do? Either way, she spent too much time running around as it was. There was no way she could go back now. Forget three hours of running, she was too exhausted to run any further. How she managed to run all the way across the region once before she didn't know.

"Feeling a little desperate are we?"

Aamira turned to find Mismagius hovering behind her. She didn't have the scepter, Aamira figured she must have hidden it somewhere. Out of habit from when they had fought Mismagius before, Aamira got into a battle stance and took a few steps back.

"Not acting very friendly today, are we?" Mismagius asked. "What a shame. I was even considering helping you. No point in helping a mutt who I know is going to bite from the start."

Aamira tried to calm down and relax a little, though she was still on guard just in case. "You were really considering helping me?"

"Don't act like it's such a big deal. I feel I have a debt to pay; that's all. As I said before, I'm no hero. I won't go helping you on whatever ridiculous adventure you have planned." Mismagius used Psychic and lifted Aamira into the air. She flew over the ocean, dragging Aamira along behind her.

Aamira was impressed by Mismagius's speed. She never thought of ghost pokemon being fast before, but it did make sense since she could cross the entire length of their region within only a few hours. Even as a shadow, that sort of speed was impressive.

"So out of curiosity, what are you doing exactly?" Mismagius asked.

Aamira wondered how much she could really trust her. Strangely enough, she felt that she could. "Quill was captured. I don't know how and I don't care. I have to get to the inverted castle to save him. To do that I need to find someone who could break the barrier around it. There's a secret passage, but I'm afraid that it's probably well guarded and I'll be captured the second I come near it."

"You do realize that whether you walk in through the front door or use the secret passage, you're most likely walking straight into a trap."

"I don't care. I need to save Quill!"

'This child seems as impatient as always…' Mismagius sighed, hoping she wouldn't have to stay with her niece for too long. "If you don't mind telling me, who are we going to find?"

"Have you heard of Shadow Lugia?"

Mismagius's concentration faltered and she nearly dropped Aamira into the ocean. She stopped flying and turned around to face her. "Are you insane? I don't know what he's told you, but that Shadow is a tricky one. I don't care what anyone says, he can't be trusted."

Aamira closed her eyes, both to keep from meeting Mismagius's and to hold back tears. She didn't like that idea, but what other choice did they have. "Lugia said that normally it would take both him and Ho-oh to break the seal around the barrier. Ho-oh is being influence somehow by Darkrai so he can't get her help. I don't know anyone else who would be strong enough…"

'So that's happened to Ho-oh while I was gone…' Mismagius nodded. "Alright, I'll take you to him. Just be sure you help out my old master when you free Quill. And tell her I said hi. I have no intention to ever face Ho-oh again."

"I understand. Please, hurry."

Mismagius nodded and picked up her speed. After a while they noticed a strange black point in the air that distorted the lighting around it. It looked like it must be some sort of space distortion. Mismagius flew towards it with Aamira being pulled behind her with Psychic and when she flew through the black point, they exited through the bottom of the tree Aamira had gone through when first looking for a way to the ocean.

Aamira fell to the ground and was about to protest when she saw Mismagius staring off into the distance.

"What is it?" Aamira asked.

"This place…" Mismagius said in a nearly inaudible voice. "I think I've been here before. But that couldn't be possible, could it?"

From here, Aamira could see the plateau where Shadow and Espeon were. She thought that Aura Release might be enough to wake him up, though she wasn't sure if she would have enough strength for it. The aura scepter was difficult enough. Worse case scenario, she would have to use Aura Restore. If that happened, she might not even survive to save Quill.

'Maybe there's another way…' Aamira thought. "Hey, there's somewhere I want to go before going to find Shadow. It's a library that's supposed to contain the knowledge of the entire universe. If you come with me, you might be able to find out something about your past, but you can only ask for one piece of information."

"Always a catch isn't there?" Mismagius said irritably. "It's better than just floating idly and trying desperately to forget that I've forgotten. I maybe have been content to do just that, but if anything I would want to find out why this place seems familiar."

"So you'll come with me?" Aamira asked. Even if it was Mismagius, she was glad to have a partner, at least for the time being.

"I suppose so." Mismagius said. "Let's get on with it then. You can't keep that friend of yours waiting."

Mismagius flew off ahead and, now that Aamira was fully rested, she could easily keep up with her. Up ahead, the mountains surrounding Satus loomed over them. Luckily these mountains were the only ones and they weren't exactly tall. Even though the path leading through a tunnel into the city seemed to have collapsed, getting to the city by climbing over the mountains was no problem for them.

The city was a huge crumbling ruin. In most cases, this wouldn't be too unusual. However, remembering that time here was frozen long ago showed the eerie reality that this city had been destroyed quickly and almost completely. In the back of the city, built into the face of a mountain, was a large castle that had most of the front face blown out of it. Inside the castle they found an old portrait of two adult humans, male and female, and a smaller girl. They assumed that it had been the family that had lived in this castle. It was strange, after all of this time, that this would be the first encounter with other humans for both of them; a tattered painting in a pile of rubble that was once a looming palace.

The two of them kept walking and found one building that didn't seem to have been touched at all. It didn't seem very large; it was only about fifteen feet in height, unless there were more floors concealed under the ground.

"This might be it." Aamira said as she led the way into the building.

Inside the room was tree destroyed columns made of stone, ice, and iron and in the center of the room was a large platform with a giant pokemon statue on it with moss covering various parts of it. On the walls all around them were words written in letters that looked like Unown. Even though the letters were ones they should have been able to read, they seemed completely illegible for some reason.

"This place…" Mismagius could barely keep herself from trembling. "I know I've been here before!"

The room started to shake and the statue stepped off of the pedestal and walked towards them. Now that Aamira saw it move, she recognized it as Regigigas. Since he was said to create Regirock, Regice, and Registeel, she assumed that this is why there were the three apparently collapsed columns.

"WELCOME TO THE UNOWN LIBRARY. HERE LOCATIONS TO THE GREATEST WISHES, PATHS TO IMMEASURABLE POWER, AND A WAY TO FIND TRUE LOVE CAN BE OBTAINED. STATE WHAT YOU WISH TO KNOW. ONE QUESTION, ONE ANSWER. AFTER THAT, I CAN DO NO MORE."

Mismagius moved towards Regigigas timidly, not having expected this giant statue to move so suddenly. "Could you tell me why this place seems so familiar to me?"

Regigigas stared at Mismagius and the eyes covering its face started to flash in a strange pattern. "MISMAGIUS, ONCE HUMAN, NOW A POKEMON AFTER BEING CURSED BY HO-OH AND HAVING YOUR MEMORY ERASED. UP UNTIL RECENTLY YOU WERE THE UNKNOWING GUARDIAN OF MESPRIT'S TREASURES. I'M AFRAID I CAN'T ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, AS YOU'VE ALREADY ASKED ONE FROM ME ONCE BEFORE."

"What?" Mismagius said. "So I was here before! Well if you're only allowed to answer one question, then repeat the answer that you gave me the first time I was here."

Regigigas's eyes started to flash again, either as he tried to recall what her answer was or because he was trying to decide whether this would be allowed. They started to flash more rapidly and the letters shaped like Unown on the walls suddenly came to life and started to swarm around them. As they spun around Regigigas, Aamira, and Mismagius, a few of them stopped in the air in front of Mismagius and slowly all of the ones who weren't needed at the time returned to the walls.

Aamira stared at the words spelled out by the Unown, but she couldn't read them at all. She noticed Mismagius's eyes darting back and fourth as she read and figured that only the person who had asked the question would be able to read it.

"Wait, what does that mean exactly? What's that part after finding a path forward?" Mismagius said, with a hint of panic creeping into her voice.

"ONE QUESTION, ONE ANSWER. YOU, DO YOU SEEK AN ANSWER FOR YOUR QUESTION?"

Aamira felt sorry for Mismagius, though she thought it best for both of them not to proceed with asking a question for Mismagius's sake. Even so, though she had a basic idea of what to ask when on the way here, she was unsure exactly what to ask now.

"What… is the path forward?"

Regigigas's eyes began to flash again, but the Unown didn't stir. "YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION. AS NO ANSWER IS NECCESARY, YOU MAY ASK ANOTHER QUESTION TO GET YOUR ONE ANSWER."

'So that's it, huh?' Aamira thought. 'It must be that unsealing Shadow Lugia is the right thing to do after all. At least now I know for sure where to go. Even so, what else do I have to ask?" After reading the legend she was afraid to do it, but she decided to try it anyway. It might be true that the legend was altered, which would explain why there was a separate prophecy at all if the person who wrote it knew the legend would be altered. Now that she thought about it, the title of the legend had been the Heroes and Banes of Reality. Where did the heroes part come into play?

"Show me the prophecy that goes with the legend of the Heroes and Banes of Reality."

"IT IS WRITTEN HERE, FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT." Regigigas turned back to the platform that it had been standing on. Aamira ran towards it and found it covered in writing in the language that she had learned while in this world the first time around. It had been written in such a peculiar way so that it rhymed in both languages. No doubt it had been written in such a way that any attempt to translate it would be exact.

In a place both known and unknown to thee,

Will come as a vision of brave heroes three.

The next two lines had been scratched out. It figured that after all of this, the prophecy seemed to be altered as well.

When the prophecy of life finally goes underway,

Just know that truly forever cannot stay.

When the memory of old makes one final stand,

A legend begins, both evil and grand.

For memory was to guard this secret of life,

Which in the wrong hands causes misery and strife.

When a war is waged between darkness and light,

Then shadow comes in to join in the fight.

At last the first is done and gone, but at what cost?

For when all is finally over, then all is surely lost.

Sealed in a dream both cruel and kind,

Alone you'll search for what you must find.

But is knowing you lost it really as it seems?

For lies are truth in nightmares and dreams.

Once more will it open the Eye of the Moon,

But what have you lost? Will you see it again soon?

When a forgotten betrayal is remembered once more,

Don't celebrate, don't fret, for forever is nevermore.

The pact of the Moon's Eye will be made in the dark,

And once again is given the secret of the mark.

But what will happen when the lost is finally found?

Will you turn to the air, or be tethered to the ground?

Only one has the key whose eyes are blood red,

Only one hides the secret that turns gold to lead.

The first Riolu shall come by the hands of war,

Not knowing of what the future has in store.

It's three creators and the creators of all,

Will once again help the first to stand tall.

The two siblings reunited will struggle at last,

To uncover the secrets of the ancient past.

When the chosen one becomes two,

Then the legend truly starts in a world that is new

When the past returns to present the future shall be changed,

And dimensions themselves will become rearranged.

Thus this prophecy is written to counter the light,

When at last darkness is seen in the two blackest nights.

And only those who can discriminate truth from the lies,

Can destroy the barrier between earth and skies,

The traitor lurks as the fourth who causes great strife,

To the two sets of two siblings who struggle with life.

The betrayer betrayed will once more be unsealed,

And pushed unknowingly onto the battlefield.

Then the third comes who is lost and afraid,

Not knowing of the pact that his true friend has made.

When the three come together then joy lasts not long,

And all will depend on a music box song.

When tears are shed and the truth is found,

You look to the sky and are freed from the ground.

But the damage has been done by the Moon's Eye Pact,

And you finally discover what it is you both lacked.

Alone one forgotten will set out on a quest,

And at this time the worst will be to do best.

A rift between worlds shall be found and be freed,

When you finally find what it is you really need.

So fret not of the journey ahead,

For once again it shall be gold and not lead.

And then the secret redeemed is in good hands,

Then the dark and light ones come for their final stands.

Now that world is gone but if only in dreams,

So remember this: nothing is truly as it seems.

The evil one truly in itself is origin,

And everything's forgotten of its wrongly accused sin.

For when at last the last treasure is found,

Everything is quiet, everything is sound.

The three become two and then one as they go,

As they see before their eyes what destiny shows.

And at last it's goodbye for shadows and light,

And finally understood is the goodness of night.

But they shall not know of that worn by the ages,

And it shall only be told by the song of the sages.

The prophecy continues, yes, and is not lost,

And finally at last there shall be no more cost.

Some prophecy. Aamira had no idea where to begin with any of it. "What are the two lines that were scratched out at the beginning?"

"ONE ANSWER ONLY." Regigigas said.

"But that's not fair!" Aamira said. "I asked to see the prophecy and I didn't get the whole prophecy, did I? Because of those two lines that are missing!"

Regigigas stood as still as a statue, not speaking for a long time, and without as much as a flicker from his eyes. "THIS LIBRARY HOLDS KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. HOWEVER, THE UNOWN CAN BE MANIPULATED BY INADUIBLE SOUNDS TO SPELL OUT WHATEVER ONE WANTS. IT WOULD SEEM THAT SOMEONE HAS IRRITATED THEM WITH A SOUND THAT THEY DISLIKED AND IT CAUSED THE LEGEND THAT THEY WERE GIVEN TO GUARD TO BE REWRITTEN. IN EXTENT, THAT PART OF THE PROPHECY HAS BEEN ERASED FROM THEIR COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND MY OWN AS WELL. I CAN ONLY SUMMISE THAT THIS PART OF THE PROPHECY YOU SEEK IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. HOWEVER, AS THIS IS THE ONLY PART OF THE PROPHECY THAT EXISTS IN OUR MEMORY, WE ARE TO ASSUME THAT WE HAVE FULFILLED OUR ROLE AND THEREBY OWE YOU NO OTHER ANSWERS TO ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE."

Regigigas turned and walked back to the platform. When he was standing back in the position he was in before, he went still and returned to his seemingly petrified state. "BEGONE NOW. YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY NEED FOR THIS PLACE."

They waited a while just in case, but Regigigas didn't stir. Aamira and Mismagius turned to leave, both thinking of the information they had both obtained.

"So what will you do now?" Aamira asked. "You read the prophecy too, right? Did any of it mean anything to you?" Mismagius looked away and wouldn't answer. "Oh come on, you can tell me, right?"

"The thing that Regigigas showed me, the answer to the question I asked the first time I came here." Mismagius said. "Reading that and then the prophecy, I realized what I had done in the past. It was said in that legend that once I felt regret for what I had done that I would regain my memory, correct?"

Aamira's eyes widened. "You got your memory back!?"

"It was strange." Mismagius said. "They came to me so suddenly that it was as if I had never forgotten. I see now the sort of person I used to be in the past. I have many regrets, but only one of which for the things I had done as a human. My only regret from then is having trusted that Honchkrow. I did cause Ho-oh to be attacked and I did lock the three Lucario in the basement of the tower before it was burned. I remember now.

"Honchkrow and some other pokemon along with some humans who acted as their leaders had kidnapped me after Honchkrow had gained my trust. They had planned to use an imposter of me to attack Ho-oh in case the plan went wrong so that I would take the blame. After they had gone to carry out their plan, I managed to escape and rushed back to stop them. The three Lucario had no idea what was going on, but I knew that they would try to help me, since I was their teacher, and I knew that they didn't stand a chance in a battle with those rogue pokemon and their human partners. I locked them in that basement to keep them out of the battle. I thought that if I didn't have to protect them, then battling the humans on my own shouldn't be a problem. I was too late though. They had already encountered Ho-oh who, after mistaking their imposter for me, went into a rage and had set the tower ablaze. All of the pokemon and humans involved had escaped, but when I returned to the basement, part of the ceiling had collapsed and I couldn't free the Lucario. I stayed there trying desperately to free them. Just as I had removed the last piece of rubble blocking the door, Honchkrow attacked me, knocked me unconscious, and dragged me out of the burning tower.

"You know the story from there I assume. I built a second tower for Ho-oh after that all on my own as the other humans of the world slowly disappeared one by one. When Ho-oh returned, she didn't trust me. I became hysterical of course. I never meant the things I said to her then, but I was given this punishment; to be turned into a pokemon and my memory erased until I felt guilty for what I had done. Though I had done nothing directly, it was my fault that Honchkrow had been able to form a plan to attack Ho-oh. It was because of me that Suicune, Entei, and Raikou are how they are now."

"So it really was the same Honchkrow." Aamira said. "How is something like that possible though? He would have to be thousands of years old, right?"

Mismagius nodded. "One other thing. Most Aura Readers and Aura Guardians remained loyal to Ho-oh when she attacked the humans. They believed she had a reason for doing what she was doing. She recognized that the human Aura Readers and Guardians didn't seem as wicked as she had then expected all humans as being. She must have thought I was just a random case, perhaps. Whatever the reason, she was still paranoid after the attack and wouldn't stand for the humans to stay in her world, though she didn't want to punish them either. Instead, the humans who remained loyal to her were sent to a different world and any pokemon who wished to do so were allowed to go with them. Many species who were dying out at the time went with the humans and were said to flourish along side them in this new world. This world where both humans and pokemon live side by side is the world I believe you came from."

"The world I come from?" Aamira said. "I remember once Sceptile showed me a cave that acted sort of like a portal to a human world. Maybe the reason I couldn't go through was because I wasn't from the world on the other side. Anyone else could go through it, but that was only because they were from Quill's world originally. So only someone from a world on either side of the cave could go through. It had been bothering me for a while now, but I understand it now."

"Natural gateways between worlds exist everywhere. They act much the same way as the doorways in this world do, leading from one sector to the other. Anyway, that's just something I thought I'd tell you. Coming here was a good idea; from what Regigigas showed me in that message, I know what I have to do now. We should go find Shadow."

The plateau was easy to find after leaving the city. Since time was perpetually frozen around twilight in this sector, Aamira had no way of knowing exactly how much time had passed in other areas. She hoped it wouldn't have been too long. It was still early morning when she had first left, so she assumed it was around noon when they got to the plateau.

Aamira sensed Shadow's smugness before they were even near the plateau. She had returned, just as he had said she would. Before they climbed up, Aamira peeked into the cave where she and Hunter had stayed. There was no trace of him. He must have moved on a long time ago.

Aamira climbed up the rusted old ladder and stepped up to the statues of Shadow and Espeon. She looked at Espeon's statue and tried to communicate with her through her aura, but like last time Espeon refused to speak with her.

"So you've finally returned, have you?" Shadow said. "You weren't gone as long as I had expected. Do you have the resolve to do what you must?"

Aamira nodded without any hesitation. As Shadow had predicted, she was out of time. There was no other option now.

"What are you waiting for?" Shadow asked. "Break the seal that binds me in stone. Restore me to my original form and I will aid you as I must."

'Aura Release and Restore at the same time?' Aamira thought. 'This is going to be even more difficult than I imagined. It's a good thing I got my scarf back.'

Aamira walked up to Shadow and placed a paw on his wing. She closed her eyes and concentrated on what sealed him to the stone. She had thought that the Aura Scepter was bad, but this was even worse. If the seal on Mismagius had been like a web, then this seal was like a tangled ball of yarn that was nearly impossible to untangle and so old that pulling the wrong string would pull all of the yarn apart. One wrong move, and the statue would be destroyed and Shadow would be gone for good.

Brighteyes weren't going to help her here; for once she really wished she had been able to evolve into Lucario. She didn't see how she could do this without being able to see the individual seals. She was only about a third of the way through when fatigue nearly caused her to make a fatal mistake.

'Concentrate…' She thought to herself. Because of her haste, she managed to somehow get through it faster than she had when unsealing Mismagius. However, that haste did nothing to help her fatigue. By the time Aamira was done, she was hunched over, gasping for breath. 'Almost there…'

Aamira lifted her shaky arm back up to the statue. Once she used Aura Release, Shadow would be freed. She had just started to send her aura into the stone when someone knocked her aside. She was dizzy and had trouble sitting up, but when she did she saw Mismagius floating where Aamira had been kneeling just moments ago. She was cringing in pain, and Aamira had no doubts about what she was doing.

"Stop it!" Aamira shouted. "You can't do this! I had help before when using Aura Restore and you're not even an Aura Reader still! Mismagius, if you do this then you'll vanish. I know this is the world where things that don't exist can exist, but I'm not sure if that works if you vanish from this world!"

"Do you think I care?" Mismagius said. "Stop distracting me, child! It's true that I can't use my abilities on my own anymore, but I still know the method. Since you started it off for me, I can finish this on my own. You're exhausted and you'd disappear just as soon as I would. As I've said, I'm no hero. If you want to save Quill, you're going to have to do it yourself!"

"Is this what Regigigas said? Was the answer to the question you had before something to do with this?"

Mismagius nodded. Her body was slowly turning transparent and she was starting to worry that she would disappear before she could finish. "He said that the bird with feathers as dark as the night would betray me. Apparently back then I didn't listen. He also said that when I return to that location that I would find the path forward with a blood relative at my side. When opening that path forward, I would finally meet my end. Listen to me now, Aamira. I've lived longer than should ever be allowed. I feel like I can finally forgive myself for what I did to Ho-oh. This is my best way to make it up to her for that; by helping you free her. Let me do this. I can help you and your friends this way and I'll finally be allowed to rest."

'Why are my eyes watering?' Aamira thought. 'Mismagius was my enemy in the past. How is it that I could have gotten so attached to her in such a short amount of time?"

Cracks were starting to appear in the stone now. Mismagius was barely visible, though she seemed to somehow still be holding on. A chip fell from the stone and an eerie dark light radiated from it. All at once, the stone was blown apart and Aamira had to shield her head from being hit by one of the larger pieces. She was nearly blinded from the dark light. When she looked back, a monstrous Lugia with dark feathers was standing in place of the statue. He lifted his head and wings, let out a terrible shriek, and flew off into the sky.

Aamira looked around, but there was no sign of Mismagius. She was gone, most likely for good. She tried her best not to think about this; it was what Mismagius wanted more than anything. Shadow circled overhead, flapping his wings as often as he could. It was understandable from being trapped in that stone for so long. He swooped down and landed back on top of the plateau with his claws digging into the ground to help keep him in place.

"Will you help me then?" Aamira asked.

Shadow nodded and bent down for Aamira to climb up onto his back. As they took off, he noticed Aamira staring back at Espeon's statue. "My seal was broken twice before. It was much weaker than hers. It nearly took everything you had just to free me; you couldn't help her if you tried."

"It's strange, but I still want to help her." Aamira said. "I'm not sure why though. Maybe because I was adopted by an Espeon too? Since that one was the first and you were her adopted son, I guess that would make me your niece?"

"So both of us were adopted by Espeons." Shadow said. "What a strange coincidence."

"Her brother's name was Shadow. I guess he might have been named after you. After he was thought to have died, she named her own son Shadow. Strange how it works, I guess."

By now, shadow had already passed through the door and was flying over the ocean. His speed was impressive, considering he had been sealed in stone for so long. "I should tell you something. I wasn't being entirely truthful before."

"Oh, what a surprise…" Aamira said.

"Don't give me that attitude. I have agreed to help you haven't I? Everything I said was true, except about Cyrus. He wasn't some greedy, war loving human. Everything he did, he did for a pokemon partner of his. She was captured by an enemy during a war between their kingdoms. Generally pokemon preferred to stay out of human politics, but those two were close. He didn't have the power necessary to rescue her on his own and everyone thought that any attempt to do so would be suicide. He wasn't going to abandon his partner though. It reminded me of how I had tried desperately to rescue Espeon once before and got captured by the human who created me. I couldn't help but sympathize with him, you see. Cyrus was a good person and so what his partner. I said what I did in order to test you. To test the bond between you and your partner when the time came. If you were so desperate to rescue him that you would turn to me for help, then I would know I was lending my power to the right person."

Aamira smiled. "You're a pretty nice person. I suppose any relative of Espeon's, whether adopted by a distant ancestor or being a direct blood relative, would have to be at least halfway decent."

Up ahead the inverted tower loomed in the sky in front of them. They had headed straight for it had hadn't even come close to the Sanctuary. Aamira didn't mind this; it wasn't as if she had any reason to go back there again.

"That's some barrier surrounding that thing." Shadow said.

"Can you break it?" Aamira asked.

Shadow nodded. "It won't be easy, but it's doable. I've copied the techniques of both Lugia and Ho-oh. Combining them sound be no problem for me."

Aamira had heard of pokemon using certain items in order to link their moves together so that they could use more than one at a time and do some more damage than normal. Things must have been really different in Shadow's time if he was able to link moves without the use of any items like that. Even so, Aamira couldn't be prepared for what she saw.

Shadow reared back and inhaled deeply. Out from his mouth came a mixture of a powerful blast of wind and a torrent of purple flame. As they mixed, sparks of silver and gold flew off of it. The combined Sacred Flame and Aero Blast hit the barrier, causing the space that it occupied to shimmer. Small cracks started to form, seemingly in mid air, and a hole was broken in the barrier.

Aamira looked up as she heard a screech from above them. Ho-oh came swooping down on them with her talons bared. Shadow just barely managed to dodge, but Ho-oh, being so close to the castle now, seemed intent on protecting in. She wasn't about to run as she had when fighting Lugia. Ho-oh chased after Shadow relentlessly, never allowing him to turn around to attack. Any maneuver he tried to perform, Ho-oh managed to do better.

When Shadow leveled out after a few tricky maneuvers, Aamira looked down and, to her horror, saw that that the barrier was trying to repair itself.

"You have to go." Shadow said. "When I fly over the barrier, you'll have to jump. Gravity will likely inverse, but your velocity should keep you going until you get to a cliff. If you grab onto that cliff you'll find a secret passage leading into the castle."

"How do you know?" Aamira shouted over the wind.

Shadow dodged an especially powerful Flamethrower and flew down close to the barrier. "What do you think? This castle used to be part of the city where the shadow king ruled. This was where I was born."

Aamira didn't have time to act surprised. Ho-oh was closing in fast. In seconds, they would be in her talons. Shadow did a corkscrew in the air, allowing Aamira to jump off easily while still being able to aim at the break in the barrier. She slipped off of his back while he was upside-down in the air for a brief second. She fell towards the floating island. As soon as she passed through the barrier, she felt herself being propelled upward into the air, instead of falling downward.

She felt the inverted gravity starting to pull her back up into the air. If she fell out of the barrier now, she would most likely be propelled somewhere into the forest by her momentum. Even if she didn't, she didn't want to think of what would happen if she fell back down and hit the barrier. That would definitely be painful.

Aamira stretched out her arm as far as she could go and at the last second grabbed onto the edge of a cliff. She pulled herself up and looked down once on the cliff. Below her, Shadow and Ho-oh were fighting, seemingly while flying upside-down. Up above, Aamira could just barely make out the forest past the edge of the island. She had to look away to keep herself from getting sick.

At the back of the cliff was a small cave that she would probably be able to squeeze through, though just barely. She entered the cave and crawled along the floor of the secret passage. She was inside the castle now. She could only hope that Shadow could distract Ho-oh long enough for her to find Quill and maybe even confront Darkrai.

The tunnel seemed to stretch infinitely and when it started to curve upward, she found climbing difficult with the limited use of her limbs in the tight space. On top of that, she had to rely solely on her aura in order to find her way through in the pitch black darkness. She finally found a seemingly dead end up above her. The tile that the passage was hidden under came loose when she pushed on it and she came out in the middle of an empty corridor. She moved the tile back in place to hide any evidence that she had come through here and continued onward.

She turned a corner, headed up a flight of stares, and in the center of the corridor, spotted Honchkrow staring in her direction. He was standing in front of a set of double doors and smiling calmly at her.

"Come for your rat?" He asked.

"Where's Quill?" Aamira growled at him.

"Patients. All will be explained soon enough. For now, my master awaits your arrival in the throne room." Honchkrow stepped back and bowed and, as if on cue, the two doors swung open apparently all on their own.

Aamira heard a flutter of wings and turned to see a few Murkrow who had landed on the ground behind her. She figured that she could easily fight her way through this number if she wanted to, but there was no point in turning back now. "Alright, I'll play your little game for now." Aamira said. "But I swear, if you've done anything to hurt Quill, you and your master will pay dearly for it."

Murkrow smirked. "Not very friendly, are we? It's not polite to keep your host waiting. If you will, please proceed inside. Oh, one more thing. You'll need this if you want to see Quill." He extended his wing and tossed some sort of necklace to Aamira. She recognized the chain that was made from the red chain from Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit's chain links. On the front were three small crystals that were stolen from the Sea Crown.

Aamira glared at Honchkrow and slipped the necklace around her neck. She walked up to the door and when she looked inside the first thing she saw was Charizard and Raichu battling. Altaria was perched on the back of the throne, with her head tilted and a blank expression. She didn't seem to know anything about where she was or what was going on.

"That's enough." Aamira looked around for the source of the voice. It didn't sound like Darkrai's; it was high pitched and sounded familiar, though Aamira couldn't place it exactly. "Practice is over. You've both done well for me so far and you'll receive your rewards when we're done."

Both of them turned towards the throne and bowed. Altaria looked down blankly at whatever pokemon was sitting in the throne. Due to Charizard's size, Aamira couldn't see what pokemon it was with him standing in the way. The two of them moved to opposite ends of the room, making room for Aamira to walk up to the throne. As soon as she passed them, the two of them turned and exited the room. Aamira saw the pokemon who was sitting on the throne and could barely keep herself calm enough to walk up to the throne at a reasonable pace.

"Why are you doing this?" Aamira asked. "All this time, I thought that you had been running from Darkrai like I've been. Could it be you've just been working for Darkrai all along?"

Ralts sighed and slumped down in the throne. The throne was so much bigger than him that he could just barely reach the arm rests with his arms extended out fully to either side. In any other situation, it would have seemed comical.

"You can't be serious." Ralts said. "You still believe that Darkrai is your enemy? And to think of all the times you snuck away from the Sanctuary in the past just to see him. You and he were quite the duo. Quite the thorn in my side too. Turning you against each other wasn't as difficult as I had believed it would be, at least. But honestly, why do you think Darkrai was after me before? It wasn't because I was trying to stop him; in fact, it was the other way around. Do you honestly think that any normal Ralts could possibly stop Darkrai with a psychic barrier like the one I created back then?"

'The same type surrounding this castle, only more powerful…' Aamira realized. "But wait, your eyes are red. When scrying the villain, they had blue eyes. How is it that your eyes are a different color?"

Ralts laughed. "You saw my real eye color, that's all."

"Aamira!" Aamira turned and saw Quill being dragged into the room by a couple of Murkrow. "Aamira, we've been tricked from the very beginning! He's not a Ralts, he's—"

"Quiet." Ralts cut in. "I'll do some explaining in my own way. Now tell me, who do you think it was that impersonated Mismagius at Ho-oh's tower in the first place?"

Ralts jumped off the throne and in a bright flash of light transformed into a human child with black hair and green eyes. The clothes she wore were really old fashioned and seemed like the kind someone would wear if expecting fights on a regular basis.

"A shape shifter…" Aamira vaguely remembered how a Ditto had turned into Vespiquen back when they had first started their team. It couldn't be a Ditto, could it?"

"And of course, getting you two separated from everyone else was no difficult matter." The human started to glow and transformed first into Quill and then into Aamira. "If you remember, back when you two were framed for those thefts, the two of you hadn't been seen together. And don't forget that no intelligent Nightmares had been seen before the one which was seemingly created in your image to fool Lucario came along."

"It was you!" Aamira said. "It was all you!"

The Aamira copy smirked and this time transformed into a Rhyperior. "Oh but of course it was all me. From the very beginning, it was all me. It was all… us. Once again, I've cornered you. And as I said before, this time your friends won't be able to help you force your way out."

Aamira growled and clenched her fists. She and Quill had been led into this trap easily, they had no idea where Roy was, and she doubted Lucario was going to show up any time soon.

"I'm sorry…" Quill said. "He disguised himself as Celebi. I should have known something was wrong when he didn't come into the Sanctuary and just hovered on the edge of the forest."

"Ever wonder why the legendary pokemon never knew who I was? Because I was everyone, and I was never who they would have imagined. Even so, I expected you to figure it out by now. Honchkrow even left you my symbol once when you fought."

Aamira dug in her bag and pulled out the coin that she had gotten all that time ago. She had nearly forgotten about the strange backwards "h" etched into the coin.

The pokemon currently in the guise of Rhyperior laughed. "Oh, don't tell me! You've been looking at it upside-down the whole time! And here I thought you were some great Aura Reader."

Aamira turned the coin. It now looked like a "u" with a tail on the left side of it. She recognized it as a letter from another alphabet that represented an "m". If she remembered correctly it was called…

"No… no way…" Aamira dropped the coin and backed away. Whatever she had expected all that time ago, it hadn't been this. "That's impossible! You were supposed to have died years ago!"

"Nothing's impossible. Maybe you've figured it out by now, but I've erased two lines from that prophecy. The two lines that clearly outlined my identity." Rhyperior's look alike started to glow again. In the shape shifters place this time was a small cat-like pokemon with pink fur, a long tail, and astonishing blue eyes. "'In a place both known and unknown to thee, will come as a vision of brave heroes three. In a prophecy both lying and true, a quest shall begin with the symbol of Mew.'"

Aamira was trembling though she wasn't sure why. This pokemon couldn't be described as looking any way other than cute, and yet, why was she so terrified?

"We are Mew, the ancestor pokemon. We are also known as the pokemon of one thousand faces. Our power is difficult to contain entirely; no doubt you can feel it from there. Yes, we can see you shaking. Now that the introductions are finished, we would like to welcome you to our humble abode and to thank you in advance for all of the help you will be giving us shortly."

Aamira turned to the sounds of a struggle outside the door. Raichu and Charizard came back in, both with their hands full in an attempt to restrain a struggling pokemon.

"Lucario!" Aamira shouted.

Mew laughed. "We found him prowling around outside looking for a way in. How convenient; he left the sanctuary before the eclipse began so we didn't have to go searching for him ourselves."

Quill gasped and collapsed on the ground. He suddenly seemed to be in a lot of pain. He clenched his teeth to keep from screaming and his entire body started to glow. Aamira watched as Quill's body elongated and his entire form started to change. When the light faded, Quill was left gasping on the floor and trying to catch his breath. After a while he stood up and looked down at his paws.

"What's happened to me…?" Quill asked.

"Ah, excellent! Congratulations, you've just evolved into a Quilava. During the time of the eclipse, a large amount of energy is generated, allowing this sort of thing to happen. But we must wonder, why the same didn't happen to Aamira?" Mew smirked. "Anyway, this only makes things more interesting. Listen up, all three of you. We're going to play a game that will result in the freedom of two of you."

Near Mew's throne, Charizard had finally managed to subdue Lucario completely. Aamira noticed that he was bound by some sort of shackles that she assumed must have been made partially of Quartz to hinder his ability to control aura. Honchkrow and his Murkrow lackeys were blocking the only exit.

"What do you want…?" Aamira asked.

"To play a game, as we've said." Mew said. "Here's how it works: This game will star you, Aamira. There's only one rule; it's an easy one to follow. Kill Quill before the end of the eclipse, or Lucario dies."


	56. Chapter 56 The Failed Mission

Aamira looked back at Quill, who wasn't yet used to his new form and was still wobbly on his feet. She turned back towards the throne where on the left side of it, Charizard had finally managed to subdue Lucario. His arms were bound together by some sort of cuffs that she assumed were made from Quartz and some really bright metal that she didn't recognize. Whatever it was, it seemed difficult to break out of. Because of the Quartz, Lucario couldn't control his aura or use any attacks while bound by them. He was entirely defenseless.

"So what will it be?" Mew asked. "If we remember correctly, as you came in you did say you'd play our game for the time being. Well, now you have a time limit. Isn't it exciting though? Getting to decide who lives and who dies?"

"What are you doing!" Lucario snapped at her. "Hurry and get out of here! I came here thinking that I was saving you from being lured into a trap only to be captured myself. At the very least you should be able to get away, even if I can't." Aamira didn't reply. She didn't know what to do. She stood there in the center of the room, completely shocked by this turn of events. "Aamira, snap out of it! Get Quill and run! He's the reason you came here in the first place, isn't he!"

"Just stop!" Aamira shouted back at him. "You don't get it do you? The way you had acted up until now, ever since we were reunited… I don't care about that! You're still Lucario and I could never hate you no matter what. I could never be the one to condemn you like this!"

"Then me!" Quill took a step forward. "Aamira, you're the greatest friend that I've ever had! I can't stand to watch you suffer like this! I know you would be crushed if anything happened to Lucario. I of all people should know how you really feel about him. Aamira, just get it over with now so the two of you can get away."

"You say I'm your greatest friend?" Aamira said. "And you don't expect me to feel the same way. It's not like I can just choose between the two of you! Mew, this isn't fair! Why are you doing this!"

Mew, who was sitting on the throne with a bored look on his face, glanced over to Raichu. Raichu hooked his tail onto Lucario's arm and gave him a shock. Even a shock that small would be painful when coming from a pokemon like him. Lucario closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, trying to make it seem like the pain wasn't as bad as it really was.

"If you're going to do something, we suggest you do it now." Mew said. "The eclipse doesn't last too long, you know. You can't run this time, Brighteyes. Whatever you decide, one friend will die. We would advise you to make a quick decision."

Aamira used Aura Sphere on Mew, but unsurprisingly, it was deflected by an invisible psychic barrier that he had formed around himself. Aamira turned back to Quill and looked between him and Lucario. 'I really have to make this decision, don't I? How could anyone ever expect me to decide which of my friends should die and which should live!'

Aamira clenched her fists and looked down at the ground. Was this the choice that was mentioned in the legend? Could it be that one of them really did have to die and if she condemned the wrong one, the world would fall into ruin? How could anything be so cruel? This legend had been nothing but trouble from the very start.

"Aamira…" Aamira looked up and was instantly hit by the strongest Flame Wheel she had ever been hit with. She was knocked back, onto the floor and when she looked up, Quill was standing over her with flames erupting from along his neck and lower back. He had gotten even stronger form evolving. "If you won't choose, I'll have to force you to. After all of this time, we've both gotten stronger. Let's have a rematch, right here."

"You're joking…" Aamira said.

Quill shook his head. "I can't stand to see you like this! I said so before! If you won't attack me willingly, I'll just have to make you hate me enough to want to! You'd better win this match and finish me off at the end. I… I'm joining Mew, and unless you can defeat me now, things will end really badly for you!"

Mew laughed and squealed with excitement. "Oh and at the very end, the bitter betrayal of the younger sibling! It's true that we are always looking for new recruits. Go for it then!"

Quill nodded to Mew and attacked Aamira with Flamethrower. Aamira just barely managed to get back on her feet and dodge out of the way before the attack could hit.

"How could you do this…?" Aamira asked.

Quill refused to respond with words and instead attacked with another Flame Wheel. Aamira didn't put up much resistance. A battle with the pokemon she saw as her brother was one thing, but there's no way she could fight him like this. She skidded along the floor and came to a stop after being back up against the wall.

"Fight back!" Quill shouted. "I won't kill you, Aamira, but if you make Lucario suffer because you refused to fight then you'll know real suffering for the first time! Nothing Honchkrow has ever done will measure up to what I'll do!"

Aamira couldn't stand to hear Quill talking like this. This wasn't her brother. He should never have to experience something like this, let alone get caught right in the middle of it. Quill used Flamethrower and Aamira dodged to the side and countered with Aura Sphere.

Lucario watched in disbelief, hardly able to believe that Aamira had just attacked back. That these two, the greatest of partners, would actually be fighting like this. To think that the result of this battle would determine whether he lived or died was too much. "Stop it, you two! It's not worth it!"

Quill used Flame Wheel, which Aamira managed to dodge by jumping over the roaring inferno, though the tips of the flames just barely grazed her fur. She turned in the air and just as the flames died down, she counterattacked with Force Palm. Quill dodged to the side and used Flamethrower, the brunt of which Aamira was able to block by crossing her arms.

Aamira ran to the side and attacked with Drain Punch. 'Why am I doing this…?' she thought. The attack hit Quill, but he recovered from it quickly and attacked again with Flamethrower. Aamira cut right through his attack, hitting him with an Aura Sphere infused with his flames. 'How could this be happening…?' Quill fell to the ground and just as Aamira was closing it to use Force Palm, he managed to jump out of the way and attack from behind with Flame Wheel. 'Someone please… Just make this end!'

"Is that all you've got!" before even waiting for Aamira to stand, Quill attacked with Flamethrower, landing a direct hit and causing a really bad burn. "Come on! Show me what you can really do, Aamira Brighteyes!"

Aamira screamed and jumped to her feet and attacked with Aura Sphere. She attacked twice more before finally landing a hit. Quill was knocked back, and skidded to a stop halfway across the throne room. The red spots on his neck and lower back started to glow and the air shimmered around him. Aamira recognized this as Eruption.

'I can't stop this…' She thought. At that moment she only saw Quill as another enemy. What else could she do but block out every other feeling she had for him. Desperation had overtaken her and now she called on her dark aura. Quill shouted at the top of his lungs and used Eruption. Aamira took a step forward and countered with Sucker Punch.

While before their attacks had always collided and ended in a draw, this time Aamira's managed to overpower Quill's. In that brief moment, the look of fear in Quill's eyes was enough to bring Aamira back to her senses, but it was too late to stop the attack now. Quill was hit hard and was thrown against the wall. He fell to the floor, badly injured and unable to move.

Aamira ran to help him with tears in her eyes, but stopped instantly when the flames on his neck and back suddenly flared up again.

"Not another step." Quill said. "If you're going to finish me you can do it from there."

Aamira shook her head. "Quill…"

"Just do it!" Quill said. "Lucario will die if you don't!" Quill struggled to his feet, but just as he was about to attack, he collapsed again and his flames went out.

Aamira ran over to him and placed a paw on his back. He felt colder than normal. He had taken too much damage from their battle already. There was just no way they could keep going.

"Hurry…" Quill said. "The eclipse will end soon."

"I can't…" Aamira jumped up and backed away as Quill's fire sprung back to life briefly, though they were much weaker than they had been before. She remembered Hunter's memory, which she had seen in the crystal. He had mentioned that she had killed Lucario. Maybe this was how it happened. Maybe she really was making the wrong decision after all. This decision was too much for her though. Even if she wanted to change history, she didn't care about that now. She had to choose between her friends, but that was just one thing she couldn't do.

Aamira fell to her hands and knees and as she did so, something fell out of her Collection Bag. She couldn't keep going. There was just no way. If there was just some way that she could detach herself from everything else… If only there was some way just to block it all out, a way she wouldn't have to feel so desperate and trapped…

By now, Quill had lost consciousness and Aamira didn't even notice when Mew rose from his throne and began to circle around Aamira. "It's a difficult decision, isn't it? Though it's not as if it's one you haven't made before. Right, Honchkrow?"

Throughout the battle, Honchkrow had been staring at Aamira. Finally, he was getting his revenge. Shouldn't he be happy about that?

"Just block it all out." Mew smirked. "Run, the way you always do. Retreat into yourself. Go ahead; no one can blame you for it. And while the rest of the world suffers, just know that you've abandoned the true reality of the world for one of ideals that only exists inside your mind. If you can't handle this situation, then just pretend that none of it's real. None of this is really happening."

Aamira wasn't listening. She was already gone. What castle was there? Mew had died a long time ago. Today was just another bright and sunny day, perfect for investigating. She and Quill were at the help center looking for a job to take on. He was still a Cyndaquil and had no plans of evolving any time soon. Everything had been peaceful for a while now. Life couldn't be better.

She never noticed how the three crystals from the Sea Crown had begun to glow. She never saw Mew slip the necklace off of her neck and place it around his own. At this moment, Charizard released Lucario and as soon as he was out of the Quartz shackles, ran over to Aamira and Quill.

"Aamira, Quill… Hang on, you two!" he said.

"You're too late." Mew said. "Quill might still make it. We don't care what happens to you two anymore. It was only Aamira who really mattered."

Lucario looked back down to Aamira to see what he was talking about. For a second he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but then he realized that he really could see right through her. So this was what happened when a pokemon vanished.

"Aamira!" Lucario knelt down next to her and tried to shake her to get her to snap out of it but there was no response. She just continued to stare off into space. "Aamira, snap out of it! Please, I never got to apologize for what happened before! You can't go yet!"

As he spoke, he kept shaking her progressively harder until he felt his hand pas right through her. In that second, she was gone. Lucario stared at the floor where Aamira had been hunched over only moments ago. He could hardly believe what he had just seen. He looked to see what it was that had fallen out of her bag. It was her team's Aura Glass.

Lucario picked it up, stared at Aamira's name printed on it, then put it in his bag and walked over to Quill and picked him up in his arms. His injuries didn't seem as severe as Lucario first thought; his unconsciousness seemed to be mostly due to exhaustion.

"What was it all for?" Lucario asked.

"A little extra power." Mew said. "If it helps, Aamira agreed to do this for us before she lost her memory. She was supposed to wait longer before erasing her memory, but we suppose she must have panicked during that explosion and erased her memory by accident."

"All of this to get more power…" Lucario said.

"It won't be wasted, trust us." Mew said.

"Trust you!" Lucario said. "After what you've done, for you to even have the right to utter such a phrase…"

"Enough!" Mew hit him with a strong Psychic and sent Lucario and Quill flying into the wall on the opposite side of the room. "I would let you go, perhaps, or maybe I should test out this new power on the two of you first before it finds its way to its intended target."

"Hold on a second." Honchkrow said. "Remember what you promised. I've done what I wanted and I've been away from home long enough. Send me back to the human world now, before you do anything else."

"Oh you poor thing." Mew said. "After all of the times you've seen me modify people's memories, it's never crossed your mind that I did the same with you?"

Honchkrow stared at Mew, wide eyed. "You… You couldn't have…"

"We needed someone to do some work for us." Mew said. "Who better than a Honchkrow who could summon multitudes of minions whenever he wanted? We did base your false memories after the events played out for a human in Aamira's world, but you are and have always been, a pokemon. You've never had a younger brother who was killed in a fire. We thank you for your help though and will reward you with immeasurable power in return."

"Bah! Keep your stupid powers to yourself!" Honchkrow said. "I've had enough of this anyway!"

"Oh? Well, if you insist. But you must stay to watch the demonstration at the very least." Mew turned back to Quill and Lucario. "Right then, let's see just how much of this new power we can draw out. There's a legend that says that if a pokemon undergoes the curses of Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit that they can gain an immeasurable power. However, since emotions, willpower, and knowledge are what keep a person alive, losing them entirely would result in that person's disappearance and their power would have been wasted entirely. Luckily we found a way to harness that power so that your friend didn't disappear for nothing. Now we'll see the result of that power."

The necklace around mew's neck started to glow brightly and his fur changed from pink to blue. "Let's see then. Perhaps we'll use it with that move. Yes, that move should make this power easier to control."

Mew raised his hand and formed an Aura Sphere. Lucario clamped his eyes shut. Against a pokemon like Mew, he knew there was no way he was going to avoid this attack. He heard the sound of Mew firing the Aura Sphere, then a loud shriek. Lucario opened his eyes and found Honchkrow standing between them and Mew with his wings outstretched to shield them.

"Get out of here!" Honchkrow shouted at Lucario. "Take Quill and get out, quick!"

"Oh what a disobedient little bird." Mew said. "Out of the way now or you'll be the first to go!"

"Get going!" Honchkrow said. "Get out now! And tell Aamira I'm sorry. I don't think I'll be able to."

Lucario nodded and began to run, not even pausing to think about what he might mean. Every time Mew attempted to hit them with an attack, Honchkrow jumped in the way. When he was eventually knocked out, the Murkrow rushed to their rescue. The eclipse was still happening right now. The barrier was down. If Lucario could just make it to the front door, they would be able to escape.

He heard a roar from behind and a few bursts of flame and electricity were shot at him. Whatever had happened to Altaria had prevented her from following, but Raichu and Charizard still seemed to be loyal to Mew.

Lucario reached the doors and kicked them open, but stopped as soon as he stepped outside. Halfway down the stairs, there was a steep drop off where the island ended. He had forgotten that the castle was floating in the sky in his haste. Behind him, Charizard and Raichu were gaining on him. He didn't have any options left. Lucario jumped off of the island and almost as soon as his feet left the ground, he found that gravity had reversed itself and he was now plummeting straight towards the forest below.

Raichu jumped on Charizard's back and they attempted to follow after them, but as they did Lugia appeared and knocked the two of them out of the sky with a swing of his spiked tail. It looked like his attack had hit pretty hard. Charizard's wing seemed to have been broken from it. The two of them fell for a while, but Charizard was able to extend his wings and glide down into the forest, though he was too badly injured to fly.

Lugia flew underneath Lucario and Quill and caught them both about fifty feet above the trees and flew off away from the castle. Below them, the forest was burning. Pokemon were scrambling to try to protect the giant tree from the flames. Off in the distance, Lucario noticed a pokemon he recognized from stories as Shadow Lugia fighting against Ho-oh. With all of this chaos it was no wonder that no one had come to the rescue when they were alone with Mew.

"Are you alright?" Lucario hadn't noticed the older Lucario sitting on Lugia's back with them until now. "When I found out from Hunter that Aamira had come to this world, I hurried here as quick as I could, but I was afraid I was too late. How's Quill?"

"I think Quill will be alright. His injuries are pretty serious, but nothing life threatening." Lucario looked down at the cane that the older Lucario was carrying. "You're Ruko, aren't you? Aamira mentioned you once before."

"Never mind that now!" Ruko said. "You and Quill are alright, so where is she?"

Lucario sighed. He didn't like the idea of recounting what had happened, but he had a feeling that he could trust Lugia and Ruko enough. They would most likely be some of the few people that would help them. They deserved to know, especially since Ruko had been Aamira's teacher. Near the end he found that he was too choked up to finish, although Ruko had been able to guess most of what happened from there and filled in the blanks for him.

"I never got to apologize for before…" Lucario said. "She asked me before she left if I was jealous of Quill. I couldn't answer because I couldn't be sure. I was just terrified this whole time, both of what had happened to Aamira with her aura turning dark and for Quill to not even act like it was a big deal… It just left me shaken I suppose. The way she ran before I regained conscious before seemed so suspicious. Now I wonder if she might have known all of this was going to happen."

"She might have had some idea of what might happen in the future." Ruko said irritably. "I'll have to speak with Hunter about this. Most likely it's because of something that he's done. I apologize on his behalf."

In Lucario's arms, Quill finally started to stir. They way they were, running from any pursuers and trying to avoid the battle between Shadow and Ho-oh, they wouldn't be able to treat his injuries any time soon. At the very least he had recovered from his exhaustion enough to regain consciousness.

Quill looked up at Lucario and immediately knew that something was wrong. He looked around and saw Ruko and Lugia, but Aamira was nowhere to be seen. "Where is she…?"

There was no way Lucario could recount the events again. Once was difficult enough. It wasn't a sort of thing that he could leave to Ruko and Lugia to explain either. He reached into his bag and pulled out Aamira's Aura Glass and handed it to Quill.

Quill stared at it for a moment, wondering what Lucario could mean by it. He clutched onto it tightly and tears started to pour out of his eyes. "No, you can't mean… No! That can't be it! Where is she!"

"Quill!" Lucario grabbed both of Quill's arms to get him to calm down and keep from falling off of Lugia's back. "There's nothing we can do. We just have to keep going."

"Keep going and what!" Quill said. "What do we do now? What are we supposed to do?"

"If I could make a suggestion." Lugia said. "Many times before, Aamira left the Sanctuary to visit Darkrai at his lake. Since we now know that it was Mew and not Darkrai who is our enemy, we can conclude that Darkrai is our ally after all. Aamira might not remember visiting Darkrai or the things she did while there, but I'm sure that she must have given Darkrai some information. Whatever it is that she learned, we can find out by talking with him."

"We have nothing to lose." Ruko said. "Hunter has gone ahead to the Eye of the Moon under similar suspicions. I must apologize though. I assumed that if we kept our distance and didn't interfere with this time that things would work out alright. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that things have worked out as I had expected. Our meddling had already caused some interference, although if I might say so, things have turned out better so far than in our world."

"How could that be possible?" Quill said. "How could this outcome have been better?"

Ruko sighed. "Tensions between Ignis and Aequor had risen. Kyogre and Groudon had begun to fight and there was much turmoil in the western region. You and Aamira went to the Sky Planes to find Rayquaza. While there, Aamira lost control of her dark aura in a battle against two long time rivals of yours. You had tried to stop her, but only succeeded after the two of them had been hurt so badly that they would never be able to battle again. After finding Rayquaza he knew what she had done and refused to offer any help. He smashed his treasure and flew off, most likely never to be seen again. After much difficulty, pokemon on the mainland managed to push Kyogre and Groudon back and forced them into a deep sleep. The battle lasted weeks. Both Aequor and Ignis were destroyed in the battle between the two legendary pokemon. Many pokemon from both countries went missing and were never found.

"Word started to spread that the two of you had something to do with their continued rampage and many people blamed your team for your failure to get Rayquaza's help. Rhyperior, who I assume was Mew in disguise during our timeline as well, managed to forge some evidence to make it seem as though the two of you had been the ones to tamper with the Blue Orb instead of Infernape, and even convinced Slowking to testify that the two of you had aided him in awakening Kyogre. The two of you became fugitives, and for much worse crimes than petty thievery and supposed attacks on a few pokemon. You became the most hunted pokemon in the region and tensions between the two of you started to rise.

"You no longer trusted Aamira. There had been several arguments, the worst of which would end in fights between the two of you. At some point you would be chased to Sylva where you were captured by the Stantler. Aamira managed to defeat the majority of them on her own. The only one left was their elder, who was more than a match for both of you. He sent you two into this world where you were separated, but would eventually be reunited in the Sanctuary.

"How Lucario came to be in this world followed the same path. Though tensions between you and Aamira were still high, she was still fond of him. It wasn't long before they started to argue about their dark aura though and you became disgusted to realize that you were glad that someone else was fighting with Aamira for once. It was then that you decided to find our for yourself who your enemy was. You met with Mew, the identity of whom wasn't known to me until recently, and joined him willingly and decided to help lure Aamira into a trap after he convinced you that he only had the world's best interest at heart and that Aamira was a threat to it.

"The two of you fought in the castle, but things didn't end well for you. When Lucario finally arrived, it was only to find that he was now completely alone. You had died in your battle and Aamira, who had been brought back to her senses just a little two late, had vanished when she realized what she had done. Lucario managed to escape and had Lugia bring him to Darkrai's lake. He proceeded to meet Darkrai on his own.

"Exactly what happened after that, though, is a mystery. It doesn't really matter now of course. This timeline is different. Whatever happens, I doubt it will be anything like what happened in the world that I come from."

"So you're saying that in your timeline, I died too?" Quill asked. "I almost wish that I had. I honestly just don't see how I'm supposed to keep going now. Aamira's been what's kept me going since I met her. I was never able to form an Investigation Team on my own. I don't know what I should do now…"

"We mustn't give up hope just yet." Ruko said. "Telling that story reminded me of one key detail. Aamira had disappeared in our world as well. Even so, Hunter had a grudge against her. Do you remember? Of course, Ruko hasn't been born yet and during that time Aamira had come back somehow."

"Really?" Quill said.

Ruko nodded. "I'm not sure what she'll be like though. She was nothing like the Riolu you first met at Shroud Lake. It's possible that she could be a dangerous enemy from now on. However, since events of the things that have happened leading up to now are not the same, it's possible that this won't hold true this time around."

Quill's eyes lit up. Aamira becoming their enemy? That would never happen! He was sure of that. It might still be possible to save her. They just had to figure out how. Maybe it was Darkrai who knew the answer.

"Are you sure about that?" Lugia asked. "If a person dies or disappears from this world, they don't come back ever. That's the way it's always been. Aamira came back before because her aura still lingered. Unless there's something left of her somewhere, I doubt it would be possible. Mew is a powerful shape shifter, skilled enough to copy a person's appearance exactly down to their aura. It's possible that the person you knew in the future wasn't Aamira at all."

Ruko closed his eyes and nodded gravely. "Mew was never seen in my world. His identity was hidden up until now. It's quite possible that the Aamira we knew really was Mew in disguise from the start. It would explain the way she behaved. However, the possibility that she may still be alive somehow still exists and we must investigate it thoroughly."

"She has to be alive! I just know it!" Quill said, and he felt that he could really believe it.

Honchkrow jumped back to avoid Raichu's attack. One hit from that wouldn't be good. If there was any way to defeat Mew, though he doubted that there was, he wanted to be the one to find it for what Mew had done to him. This whole time he had been acting solely for revenge. To find out now that he had taken revenge on Aamira for someone else was too much. Even worse, if he hadn't been that human back in Aamira's world, who was he? Because of Mew, he might never know the truth.

"That's enough, Raichu." Mew flew back into the room with Charizard following behind him. His wing was bandaged, but rescuing Charizard had taken more time than Mew was willing to spend. He wouldn't abandon Charizard though, not after how he so loyally followed him so far. If it had been Altaria, maybe, but not Charizard or Raichu.

Honchkrow glared at mew. Raichu had chased off all of his minions and he couldn't call them back even if he wanted to with him still there. He would have to face Mew alone. "So what will it be then? I did just allow your enemies to escape you."

"Quill and Lucario are not our enemies, nor are they our allies." Mew said. "Regardless, to think that you would try to protect them from me is unthinkable."

"As is the thought of you manipulating my memories the way you had!" Honchkrow said. "Altaria, Charizard, and Raichu were used to test the power you would get from Aamira, right? I can't help thinking that you somehow orchestrated Charizard losing his will, Raichu his emotions, and Altaria her memory."

Mew laughed. "That's the best part. We didn't have to do anything, even with Altaria. Charizard chased her halfway across Ignis until finally cornering her. Only then did she decide that she didn't want to go down without fighting. Charizard was much stronger than her unfortunately and her injuries proved to be rather extensive, as I'm sure you remember. We had been planning to erase her memory ourselves. It's strange the way destiny sometimes works in your favor."

"I tried to run?" Altaria mumbled from her perch on the back of Mew's throne. "Now I wonder why I would have done something like that…"

"So you say." Honchkrow said. "And what about the three legendary pokemon?"

"I've done nothing to harm any of them aside from harnessing their power to help keep the barrier strong against Lugia. Plus if Ho-oh regained her senses, she would never attack the castle with her subordinates trapped inside. Doing something like that would bring back unpleasant memories, you see."

"So what will happen to them now that you don't need them anymore?" Honchkrow asked.

"They are neither our enemy nor our allies, much like those two you helped escape. We'll set them free soon enough. There's no point in keeping the pokemon that are doomed to run forever locked up like this forever, now is there?"

Honchkrow knew that Mew was just toying with him by answering all of these questions. Obviously Mew didn't believe Honchkrow would ever get the chance to do anything with this information. Honchkrow was starting to believe it himself, but if ever there was a time to ask, it was now. "You keep saying that others aren't your enemies or allies. If that's true, than who is your enemy?"

Mew laughed. "And why should we tell you something like that?"

Mew snapped his fingers and Honchkrow clutched his wings to either side of his head as a sharp pain suddenly went through his temples. The fake memories that Mew had created were still there, but now there were other ones too.

Honchkrow was a Murkrow, barely a hatchling, sitting in a nest surrounded by his brothers and sisters. His mother flew towards the nest and divided up a berry for each of them to eat. Honchkrow was out in the forest with his father, training for the right to the Dusk Stone that he held in his beak. He couldn't believe how hasty he had been back then in trying to train and become stronger. Such a child. Another day, possibly years into the future, Honchkrow stood perched on the branch of a dead tree, surrounded by his siblings, some of which had already evolved by this point. His father handed him the Dusk Stone and his mother held back tears of joy. That was the moment when Honchkrow first became Honchkrow.

Honchkrow had his own nest now, deep in the forest away from his parents' or siblings' nests. He was enjoying being alone for one of the first times in his life. Out in the forest, he heard his father's call. As the leader of the Honchkrow, all other Honchkrow and Murkrow were supposed to come when summoned. Honchkrow flew towards the call and what confused by what he found. At his parents' nest, there was only a small pink feline pokemon and a few scattered feathers. Honchkrow looked up at the Murkrow flying in circles overhead. He couldn't find any siblings or other direct relatives in the masses.

"Oh, you poor thing." Mew said. "It would seem your parents aren't here. It would seem that makes you the leader of the Murkrow now." Mew snapped his fingers and Honchkrow collapsed unconscious in the nest.

Honchkrow knew what happened from there. That was when Mew had modified his memories. Now that these memories had returned to him, he knew that these were truly his own memories and no one else's. Honchkrow glared up at Mew and attacked with Heat Wave, which Mew didn't bother to dodge. The attack passed harmlessly over him as if he hadn't felt a thing.

"Don't think you can use the power we gave you against us." Mew said. "We returned your memories to you for a reward for all you've done for us up until now. Enjoy them while you can. Don't think you won't be punished for what you did."

Honchkrow was about to fly into the air when Mew attacked him with Aura Sphere. His wings were halfway opened when the attack hit. The energy radiating from it was so intense that before he had a chance to extend his wings to their full length, his vision started to fade. When the attack stopped, Honchkrow was still aware of his surroundings, but not as he should have been. He couldn't move, his whole body felt heavy, and none of his senses were working they way they should have been. When Mew spoke, Honchkrow could hear his voice in his mind rather than in his ears.

"A beautiful new statue to liven up this throne room." Mew said as he flew in circles around Honchkrow. "Just what it needs really."

"What about us?" Charizard asked. "You still owe us for our services to you."

"Yes, of course." Mew said. "However, the way the three of you had been before will be problematic later if we restore you to your former conditions right away. We hope you understand. It will just be a little longer. After we defeat that evil that has threatened the peace of our worlds for so long, we'll gladly give you what we've promised. Until then, do whatever you wish."

"You'll have to battle me after you return." Raichu said. "A power like the one you've acquired isn't one that I can pass up testing myself against."

Mew nodded. "If that's what you wish, we'll be happy to oblige. However, we are in a hurry, so we must be going. Don't do anything too rash while we're gone. We want Honchkrow to pay for his treason, so if any damage is done to his statue, the one responsible will pay a similar price."

The two of them bowed and watched as Mew teleported away. They turned to Altaria who had been staring off into space the entire time, not really understanding anything that was going on.

"The way things are…" Raichu said with a bitter laugh. "It's strange, but I feel like I'm starting to feel some sympathy."

"I know what you mean." Charizard said. "While before I hadn't had the will to continue, seeing Altaria this way makes me want to do something for her sake."

"What's wrong, my friends?" Altaria asked. "Master Mew has finally gotten the power he needed, hasn't he? Why are you acting so glum?"

It was true that they had been able to help Mew and help themselves and Altaria in the long run, but both Raichu and Charizard couldn't help thinking the same thing. Was it worth it?

Aamira was laying face down on a surface that somehow didn't feel entirely solid, though it was still somehow able to hold her up. She lifted herself up with her arms and jumped up when she saw the person sitting cross-legged in front of her. Aamira jumped up onto her feet, ready to fight if her duplicate would attack her.

"Mew, isn't it?" Aamira said. "Your tricks aren't going to keep working on me."

Aamira's double sighed and shook her head. "In spite of being called 'Brighteyes' you're not very bright, are you? Even if I was Mew, what reason would I have at this point to disguise myself as you?"

"So if you're not Mew, then who are you?" Aamira asked.

"I'm you." Aamira's double said with a single wag of her tail. "Or at least I was. You've kept me trapped in here for a while now, haven't you?"

This was the first time that Aamira really paid any attention to her surroundings. Everything around them was a blank space aside from some strange colored waves of light that passed by them.

"That's your aura." Aamira's double said. "I know you must have a lot of questions; after all, I would know considering I'm you. Why don't we start with why exactly you erased your memory in the first place, hmm?"

"You mean you know?" Aamira asked, more on the defensive now than she was before.

"Of course I do!" Her double said with a dismissive wave of her paw. "Master's not going to like what you've done, you know. You had a mission to complete, after all, and you completely gave up on it right in the middle! Was your life before really so bad? I suppose it must have been for you to want to erase your own memory."

"So I had some sort of mission and to get out of it I erased my memory…" Aamira said.

Her double nodded. "It's all that Lucario's fault, ironically enough. Although your little Quilava buddy didn't help much at all after you erased your memory. You could have run into someone as cold hearted as you used to be, but no. I suppose you could call it destiny?"

"What was my mission?" Aamira asked.

Aamira's double smirked. "Do you really want to know? Maybe this will help you remember; 'I have my own reasons for coming to this world and I don't need some sassy ghost pokemon telling me what's what.'"

"So what are you saying? That I had some sort of reason for going to Atra?" Aamira snapped at her.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Her double replied calmly. "Why did you want to erase your memory in the first place? Because of that Lucario, of course. You weren't supposed to become friends with him. Friends were one thing you weren't allowed to have for the exact reason of what happened in Mew's castle. But that's not the point. The point is that before you erased your memory, you were almost as cruel as our master is. Oh he used us for all sorts of special missions like this in the past. We never actually hurt anyone before and it wasn't something that he was planning on having us do. It's was mostly missions for spying or, sometimes, a few of the people we were spying on would go missing and a few more cells in his dungeon would be occupied. Get what I'm saying?"

"I've heard enough." Aamira looked around for a way out, but there was nowhere else she could go.

"Oh but I'm just getting to the good part. You see, he has undermined the authority of politicians of many of the countries of your world. He takes over a few openly and controls others from the shadows. One thing he wanted more than anything though was the kingdom of Atra—"

"That's enough!" Aamira shouted at her.

"For his own reasons though," her duplicate continued as if she hadn't even spoken, 'our master was unable to go to Atra himself. That's why he gave us an extremely important mission. That mission was, of course, to kidnap the heir to the Atran throne."

"Stop!" Aamira fired an aura sphere at her double, which she was able to dodge by lazily leaning her head to the right and letting it fly straight past her.

"So that's why you erased your memory." She said. "Oh when you found out that Atra had already been taken over by Mismagius… of course that was quite the change to the original plan. But you were confident that there was still an heir to the Atran throne. For that reason, you did all that you could to get behind the scenes. Of course, at the time you didn't know who Lucario was. You saw him as Mismagius's lackey and, later on, the leader of the rebellion. You thought he would help you find the true king of Atra and help you he did.

"Oh when he told you who he really was, your eyes must have lit up. After all of that time working undercover, you finally found the one you were looking for. Unfortunately by that time, you came to see him as a close friend and you became conflicted. The reason I say that your eyes must have lit up was because he immediately became suspicious of you after that. Soon after he discovered your relation to Mismagius and he became convinced that you were secretly working as her spy. Such a shame too. Right then, you decided that you would give up on your mission to kidnap him. What he said about abandoning you to save you from Mismagius was a lie, of course. He exiled you from his hideout for treason.

"After that when Mismagius found you, you became convinced of whose side you were on. Lucario risked everything to find a way to rescue you. At that point you decided that you would bury your past forever by erasing all memory you had of it. It's a shame, really. This mission must be the only one you've ever failed, both before and after your memory was erased. And so here I am, the being created of your memories from your past. It's good to see you again, old friend."

"But I don't understand…" Aamira said. "You have my memories of when I was with Lucario in Atra, which you said was what changed my mind about following this master of ours. So if that's true, then why are you acting like this?"

Her double, who had been sitting the entire time, finally stood up. "Because you tried to bury me. You wanted to forget your past and I just can't forgive that. You thought that you would be free to do whatever you wanted in Atra. After all, he sent you there because he himself couldn't go there. You would have been caught at one point though. He would have found you. I guess the way I act now just proves that I fear him more than I ever could have liked Lucario. If you would have given it a few hours, a few days at the most, I'm sure you would have reverted back to your old ways."

Aamira shook her head. "That's not true. I know it isn't."

"Say what you will. By the way, I'm sure you're probably wondering where exactly we are, yes?"

"It might have crossed my mind…" Aamira said.

"This is your soul. Souls are vessels of energy, although they're surprisingly fragile. The power obtained by undertaking the curses of Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit was apparently too much. It caused your soul to shatter. However, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe overtime if something triggered an old memory of yours, I could have become a split personality, but nothing more. This way, I'm able to keep a piece of your soul for myself. You should be grateful, really. If I hadn't done so, you would have died already."

"So a piece of my soul allowed you to come to life…" Aamira said. "So what do you intend to do now? If you really are going to continue to follow this master of yours, I could only assume that we're enemies."

"I suppose so, not that it matters. It's not like you'll be able to stop me. I've been trapped deep inside of your soul all of this time. Now it's time I take your place. Those friends of yours won't know what hit them."

"Now hold on a second—!"

Aamira was cut off when her double raised her arm, pointing in Aamira's direction and a dark hole opened up underneath her. Aamira desperately tried to grab for the edge of the ground, but slipped almost immediately as if something was dragging her down. The last thing she saw was her double looking down at her from above with that smirk. Then everything went dark.

On the edge of a cliff in the middle of a dark forest, two Riolu stared down at the lake below them. It was oval shape and the eclipse reflecting in it looked exactly like an iris and a pupil created by the sun and the moon.

"I never thought I'd live to experience two eclipses like this." The older of the two said, although he was obviously not very old himself.

"I hate to admit it, but I don't like this place…" the younger said. "Even so, I'm sure from what you said and from what that friend of yours found out that Quill and Aamira will be here. By the way, that friend of yours is coming, isn't he?"

The older of the two grinned as he stared down at the lake. "Feel better with a big strong pokemon like him on your side? Understandable, I guess. Yea, he's already gone on ahead to scope the place out."

"We should get going then." the younger of the two jumped down from the cliff and walked towards the lake.

The older one sighed and followed after. "You're just a little too serious for my liking. Either way, I'm always one for an adventure. You can count on me to help you find those friends of yours."

"It's not just them." The younger one clenched his fists. "I'm sure of it. Sandshrew's got to be here."


	57. Chapter 57 In the Mist

Lugia was forced to land once the trees started to grow too thick. If he waited any longer, they wouldn't be able to land near the lake. Far up ahead of them loomed a large granite cliff covered in moss. They continued ahead on foot, not knowing what was waiting for them at the lake.

After walking for about half an hour, Lugia, who was walking several paces behind them, screeched as he was shocked by something that looked like black lightning. He stammered back, looking for an attacker, only to realize that there was no one else in the area. He extended his wing and more electricity gathered near it, threatening to shock him again if he came much closer.

"I haven't been to this lake since that terrible incident." Lugia said. "I knew I wouldn't be able to come near it, but I didn't know exactly what would happen if I tried. I'm afraid that I can't go any further than this."

"We understand." Ruko said. "We must hurry and find Darkrai. That's our main priority now."

Lucario and Quill nodded and followed after him. Lucario couldn't help notice how easily Ruko was able to stay several paces in front of them in spite of requiring the use of a cane. There was definitely something strange about this older Lucario, even if he couldn't figure out what it was.

They continued walking and eventually found the granite cliff where a narrow cave was hidden in a shadow. If Ruko hadn't been here before, as he apparently had been, they probably never would have found it. The cave was damp, which Quill didn't like much, and they were swarmed by Zubat when he tried to light his fire to illuminate the way forward. They settled down again once he put his fire out, but he had to stay close to Ruko and Lucario, who could see their way around with their aura, to keep from stepping on any Geodude or something.

He was relieved when he finally saw some light up ahead, but Ruko quickly raised his cane in front of the two of them to keep them from going any further.

"Something's not right here…" He said. "I've been to this place many times before. Something definitely doesn't feel right."

They heard an explosion from outside the cave followed by something that sounded like a waterfall. The three of them hurried outside to find Darkrai attacking in random directions. The sound of the water had come from him hitting the surface of the lake with Dark Pulse.

On the lakebed, Hunter was trying to attack from a distance whenever Darkrai would get within range, but his movements were too random to be able to get in a good attack. He noticed the three of them exiting the cave and turned to him, though not dropping his guard in case one of Darkrai's attacks were to be fired in their direction.

"What's happened to Darkrai?" Ruko asked.

Hunter shook his head. "I don't know. I've never seen him like this before. A couple of Riolu came through here before and barely got through before Darkrai showed up and started to rampage. I've been trying to get him to calm down, but I think I've met my match…"

Quill had to admit that he had no sympathy for him. It only seemed right that after attacking so many legendary pokemon before that he would be outmatched by one now of all times.

Ruko watched Darkrai as he rampaged across the surface of the lake. "I think I'm beginning to understand just what's happened. Yes, that means that Aamira could definitely be saved, if it's true. I'm afraid that she'll be in a much worse state than Darkrai, though."

"Well if she can be saved, that's all that matters, right?" Quill asked.

"I'm not sure…" Ruko said while clutching his cane tighter.

"Watch it!" Lucario knocked them all out of the way as Darkrai attacked with Dark Pulse again. He countered by using Dragon Pulse, which, to Hunter's astonishment, actually hit.

Lucario didn't even realize at first that some sort of black circle had formed around his legs and he just barely managed to jump out in time before he was drawn into it. 'That must be his signature attack, Dark Void. I'll have to be careful of that.'

Lucario had hardly even realized when this had turned into an all out battle and was even more surprised to find that he was doing well while everyone else, aside from Ruko who was watching with the utmost interest, stared on in shock. Darkrai was extremely weak against Lucario's Aura Sphere, but was also one of the most flexible pokemon that Lucario had ever faced. Not only was he nearly impossible to hit, but he also knew two moves that Lucario never would have expected: Roar of Time and Spacial Rend.

Darkrai moved in close to use Spacial Rend, which got Lucario on the shoulder of his dominant arm, making it harder to use his Aura Sphere and making it difficult to aim with Dragon Pulse.

Darkrai moved to the center of the lake and attacked with Roar of Time, which Lucario barely managed to dodge by jumping to his left and falling on the ground, luckily landing on his uninjured arm. He got back up and attacked with Aura Sphere while Darkrai couldn't move, using his left arm. The aim was off and only managed to graze one of Darkrai's arms, which, if anything, seemed to make him even more enraged.

Darkrai flew towards Lucario and attacked with Dark Void. This time, Lucario was too slow to dodge. He was suddenly surrounded by darkness. He was rising up out of the lake, staring at the legendary pokemon who were clustered around. Aside from them, there was a Riolu and a Typhlosion, who were among the few, including Mew, who weren't standing in the water. Mew shrieked and flew off and soon the others followed. The Riolu tried to stay behind, but the Typhlosion grabbed him by the arm and ran off.

'Why are you all scared of me…?' Lucario tried to ask. 'Don't run. Don't…' Lucario screamed and flew after them, which they assumed was an attack. They all disappeared through the cave. He flew backwards, back to the center of the lake, and closed his eyes. He sank into its depths, resigned to spend all of eternity on his own.'

No, there was no way he would spend his whole life alone. If there were only some way to see other pokemon in a way where they wouldn't be able to run from him. Trapping them in nightmares, yes. Of course that would be the answer. They'll never wake up. Never. Their screams of terror would be his only friends now.

"Lucario!"

Lucario's eyes shot open. He was shaking and gasping for breath, laying on the ground and looking up at Quill. What had just happened to him? Had it all been just a dream after all?

He managed to sit up unsteadily while tying to convinced Quill that he was alright. In the center of the lake, Darkrai was floating just above the water with one hand over his face. He seemed calmer than before, though he still seemed to be in pain.

Ruko stepped up to the side of the lake. "Darkrai! We've come here to help you and your friend. Let us through into your realm so we can do what we came to do."

Darkrai looked up with his face still partially hidden behind his face. "Is that so?"

Darkrai's voice sent a chill down Quill's spine. It was as if he couldn't hear it and yet he understood exactly what he was saying. He looked around and noticed that out of the four of them, Lucario seemed to be the only one who was confused. Everyone else seemed to be able to hear Darkrai except him.

"I will let you pass." Darkrai let his arms drop to his side. His legs seemed to form out of nowhere, just barely touching the water and sending ripples across the surface. They were still under the eclipse, so the lake looked exactly like a huge eye with the moons for a pitch black pupil and the rays of the suns to make up the iris. Quill figured that Mew must have exaggerated the time they had for the eclipse to make things more difficult for Aamira. Not that it mattered now.

Darkrai raised his arms slowly and the "pupil" of the Eye of the Moon became an even darker shade of black than before, if that was even possible. Hunter and Ruko waited a second and stepped onto the surface of the lake. Aside from the ripples created by their foot steps, the entire surface was eerily still, almost like glass. Lucario and Quill followed hesitantly, expecting to fall through the water at any second. It was a lot like the lake that acted as a gateway into Atra. Quill hoped it wouldn't feel like anyone was dragging him underneath when they got to the center.

When they got to the center of the lake, they noticed that the center was now a large hole that seemed to go on for miles under the lake.

"Don't be afraid of it." Ruko said. "Just jump in. You won't be hurt."

He jumped in and Hunter followed after seconds later, leaving Quill and Lucario alone momentarily with Darkrai. This was the first time that Quill got to see Darkrai up close. He really did seem terrifying, but there was something else too. He was straining to keep his arms raised and he was breathing heavily as if the effort of keeping the path opened was enough to intensify the pain that he had been feeling from before. Their eyes met for a moment. Quill couldn't really tell what Darkrai was trying to say through his eyes alone, but he somehow felt sorry for him.

"Let's go." Quill said to Lucario. Lucario nodded and the two of them jumped down.

For a moment they were falling through pitch blackness, but a second later, they were standing in a place that looked nothing like the cavern under the lake that Quill had expected. Everything around them was bright and shimmering in a thousand different colors. They were still standing on top of water, although they didn't seem to be at the same lake anymore.

"Do you like it?" Quill turned to see Darkrai standing behind them. "This is what the lake used to be, before that incident. Look carefully."

Quill looked harder at all of the shimmering mist around them. He could just faintly make out the lakebed. They were in some sort of hidden forest clearing, accessible only by the sky or the cave that they had entered through. Vines and other species of creepers grew along the stone walls and the rocks closest the lake were covered in moss. All around the lake, there was tall grass that waved in the wind and at least twenty different species of wild flowers. They were nothing special like the Lunar Flowers or Solar Flowers, but if anything, it only made the lake more beautiful.

"What are you staring at?" Lucario asked.

Quill was so entranced by the amazing scenery that he forgot that anyone else was there with him. "You mean you can't see it?"

"Very few people can." Ruko said.

"Aamira was the first in a long time…" Darkrai said. "I showed this to her. She said she would never forget it. Or me. She must have forgotten that too though."

"She had to get her memory back of our world to be able to come back. You understand don't you?"

Darkrai nodded. "I'm sorry…"

"Who else can see this?" Quill asked.

"Those two. Your younger Lucario friend can't though. I assume he can't hear me either. Aamira saw it the fastest of anyone I had ever seen. Aside from you three and her, there was only one other a long time ago. A young Umbreon."

"Why can't Lucario hear you?" Quill asked.

"I can only be heard by those who have no true fear of the darkness. Your friend there fears it greatly, like so many others. To those who have no fear and who have the desire to listen, I can be heard. Aamira feared me before, perhaps, but only because of Mew. He had done much to turn us against each other."

"What is he saying?" Lucario asked Quill.

"He says you're a terrible listener." Quill said, which made Ruko laugh instantly.

"You've come for her, haven't you?" Darkrai said while putting both hands over his heart. "You've come to rescue Aamira, have you not? Do you know about the pact we made?"

"The Moon's Eye Pact?" Quill asked.

"Such an old pact." Ruko said. "I never did explain the details fully, did I? It's a pact that can only be made under the full moon at midnight, when the lake resembles an eye. The two people making the pact would stand in the lake's water and exchange pieces of their souls. If any one soul is lighter or darker than the other, the pieces won't match up and both people would lose their souls, which would be trapped beneath this lake forever. But for Aamira to make a pact with Darkrai… With a soul as dark as his, I must assume we don't know as much about our little friend as we thought. She must have been hiding some darkness deep in her heart so that it had never shown before. Only after making that pact and becoming a Dark Reader did her aura turn the same color as Darkrai's."

"This is good though." Hunter said, speaking for the first time since Lucario's battle with Darkrai. "This means that Darkrai still has a piece of Aamira's soul. That's how she's still alive. It explains why he was acting so violently before as well. If Aamira's soul really did shatter, then the piece of Darkrai's that she had with her must have gone too."

"So in other words, Darkrai saved Aamira's life." Quill said.

Lucario could hardly believe it. He thought that there had to be some reason that Darkrai had made that pact with Aamira. He had to be after something else that he needed her for. That was the only logical explanation. Why would a pokemon of darkness want to help anyone so freely?

"Your friend refuses to believe it." Darkrai said. "It's amazing. The nightmare I gave him in the Dark Void was my own. What happened that warranted my creation."

"Your creation?" Quill asked.

"Look at the scenery around you and I'll show you my memory of the event."

Quill looked back across the lake. He could now see faces peering up at him from the water's depths. It took him a while to recognize them as Phione and Manaphy. On the shore of the lake, some other pokemon were gathered. All but a few were Ninetales and Vulpix. Quill recognized one of the other pokemon as Mew, who was arguing with an elderly female Ninetales with ghostly blue fur that shimmered in the sunlight.

"You ask too much of us this time." The old Ninetales said. "Taking away your own darkness was one thing, but for so many pokemon at the same time is unheard of. You know the risks involved."

"I don't understand why you would call immortality a risk." Mew said. "Please, we need this water. Our kin are all dying out. Many of us gathered here are the last of our kind. Without this water, we will all die."

"You would all eventually die, regardless of whether you're the last of your kind or not." The old Ninetales said. "It matters not the species, but the life that dwells within it. For all of the hundreds of pokemon that have died out many years ago, their existence meant something. The species did not. Life goes on regardless of where a person came from or what their motivation is in life. You have no idea how little any of you really matter. Just as significant or insignificant as a single petal on the smallest flower in this clearing."

"That's enough!" Ho-oh stepped forward, glaring down at the Ninetales menacingly. "You have no idea what we've been through. You and your kind, who live forever, will never understand! We need this water to continue living. If life is so precious to you, you would understand our plight!"

Lugia was off in the distance staring at her sympathetically. It seemed that she had recently lost someone close to her and that the pain was too much. No matter what Lucario had said to try to comfort her, he was being out done by the water in the lake.

Ninetales ignored her and continued in her conversation with Mew. "You are a fool to return here, Mew. For as long as you had served our lord, you had always been welcome. Your betrayal will not go unforgotten. I hope you remember that. If you insist on pursuing immortality for all of your friends here, I won't stop you. Just remember, all of you, that once you do this, you will most likely never be able love again. All those you meet, who you befriend, will die before you one after another. Have you not wondered why our species is so elusive? Be that as it may, we will leave you this lake if you wish to proceed. I am not looking forward to living in a place that is tainted with darkness and entirely inhospitable. We will never return here again, so don't come looking for us."

The Ninetales looked around at others of her kind, who all rose to their feet to follow her. "Today we follow in the footsteps of our lord. He will never be able to return here now, so we must seek him out ourselves. Let us depart." She walked towards the cave, but stopped to look at all of the pokemon gathered there. "We will never forget what you've done here today. I will personally make sure that your blunder will be one of legends. Good bye, you legendary pokemon, as you will from today onward be called."

All of the Ninetales and Vulpix walked out through the cave, never to return. Mew turned to look into the unsure faces of the legendary pokemon standing behind him. "Don't let Ninetales disturb you. She's not called Silvertounge by her tribe for nothing. I can understand if you're reluctant to do this now. Step forward, if you wish. You don't have to, if you don't want to."

Ho-oh stepped forward before anyone else. She walked into the lake where the water was up to the middle of her legs. Slowly, a few more pokemon started to join her. Some, such as Armaldo, Kabutops, Aerodactyl, and a few that Quill knew to be extremely rare, or even said to be extinct, stayed behind. Aside from them, Lugia, and a young Riolu sitting at the feet of an older Typhlosion stayed behind. Quill thought he recognized the Typhlosion with the scar on his nose, but he couldn't place it.

Ho-oh turned to find Lugia still standing on the shore. "Lugia… My dear friend… Please…"

Lugia sighed and shook his head. "No, I can't… If you think living forever will give you happiness, then I won't stop you, but if I do so myself, I feel like I would be betraying my family."

"I don't ask you to do it out of duty to your species." Ho-oh said. "Do this for me? I don't want to live forever when I have to watch you grow old and die."

"You ask too much of me, Ho-oh." Lugia sighed again and walked into the lake. "I hope I won't regret this, but I will do it for you."

"What of you, Riolu?" Mew asked.

The Riolu laughed and gave them a goofy smile. "Are you serious? Become a 'legendary' pokemon, as Ninetales called it?"

"You're the last of your species as well, aren't you?" Mew asked. "It could be a great opportunity for you."

"I'm the first of my species, not the last. Get it right. Living forever just doesn't sound very appealing to me. I've got a girlfriend back home, remember? I don't want to stand around, unaging, as she slowly ages and dies before my eyes. No thanks, I'm staying right here."

"Are you sure?" Mew asked. "Think about this for a minute."

"I gave you my answer." Riolu said. "You're starting to get irritating. Besides, I have a bad feeling about this. I don't think it's because of what Ninetales said. I have a feeling that something will happen that you'll all live to regret if you go through with this."

Mew sighed and turned back to the other pokemon, who were now so strong in their resolve that they weren't about to back out just because of Riolu's words. He raised up his arms, the way Darkrai had to open the hole in the center of the lake. The water started to glow and the Manaphy and Phione swam around frantically, as if trying to warn them.

"Give up the darkness in your hearts. All of the pain that you've felt… let it be a sacrifice now for this gift."

All of the legendary pokemon walked further into the lake until they were completely submerged under the water. Mew seemed confident in what he was doing. The lake was glowing brightly, but then the edge of his tail twitched as if he had sensed something approaching. He looked at the lake and watched as it turned pitch black. He gasped and flew back as he watched the legendary pokemon frantically struggling to get back to the shore.

"This isn't supposed to happen…" He stammered.

All of the pokemon splashed their way back to the shore, acting as if something in the center of the lake was trying to draw them further into the depths. They scrambled up onto the shore and turned to watch in horror as all of the black water started gather in the center of the lake. Beneath the water it created a formless shadowy figure that slowly began to solidify. They all watched from the shore as the black figure rose out of the lake and opened its pale blue eyes to look at them. Here was the darkness in their hearts, all of their fears, come to life.

Mew stared, petrified with fear, into the blue eyes that looked so much like his own. It seemed to Quill like all he could be thinking at this moment was "What have I done?". Mew shrieked and flew out through the cave and the other pokemon soon followed after.

"Why are you all scared of me?" Darkrai asked, but none of them seemed to be able to hear, except maybe the Riolu who had tried to stay behind, even though the Typhlosion had dragged him to his feet and made him run with the others. "Don't run. Don't…"

Darkrai screamed and flew after them, but the other pokemon only ran faster. Instead of trying to catch up with them, Darkrai sulked back to the lake with the black water and sank down beneath its depths.

The vision ended there and Quill turned to see Darkrai holding his face in one of his hands again. Either the missing piece of his soul was hurting him again, or this was as close as Darkrai could get to crying. Quill walked up to him and tried to take his hand to comfort him, but jumped back the second he touched Darkrai's hand. It was icy cold like nothing that Quill had ever felt before. The coldness of pure darkness.

"Darkrai, if you were made from the darkness in the hearts of the other legendary pokemon, how is it that Aamira could make that pact with you?" Quill asked.

"Darkness isn't measure in quantity, but strength. We've both felt the worst sort of darkness that it was possible to feel."

"And what would that be?" Quill asked.

Darkrai didn't seem to want to say. To him, it must have seemed like something really personal that he felt that he and Aamira could keep all to themselves. But this was Quill, he realized, Aamira's dear friend and maybe even a friend of his. "We both felt loneliness. That's what first drew me to her in her world."

"You met Aamira in her world?" Quill asked.

Darkrai nodded. "I thought we were friends back then. The fire that had started in her city that had killed a close friend of hers… She thought that I had caused it. The older brother of that friend blamed her for what happened. In that moment when she had no one else to turn to, I offered to make this pact with her so we would never be alone. From that she assumed that I had started the fire for that very reason. I know nothing of how the fire started, but she didn't know that."

Quill now understood the nightmare that had been plaguing Aamira for so long. Maybe that one memory of hers had returned to her after making the pact with Darkrai. "How did you first meet Aamira?"

"She was chasing a Hoothoot through a forest and ended up getting lost. I thought she would be scared of me if I revealed myself to her, so I lead her to a place in the forest where I thought she would be safe by making sounds in the forest to lead her in that direction. Deep in that forest, there was a lake. That lake looked a lot like this one before I was created. By that lake, she met three friends. Two were human, one of which was the one who died in the forest, and another was a pokemon. I tried to speak to her through dreams and when she was feeling lonely, but she was afraid of me at first. It was only when I helped her find her abilities as an Aura Reader that she started to trust me."

"And then there was the fire." Quill said. "But everything's okay now, right? We can rescue Aamira and everything will be the way it should be!"

"Repairing a soul is difficult. Not impossible though. In this place, time doesn't move the way it normally would. We have plenty of time to fix it." Darkrai pointed to a small speck that glowed with silver and gold light. "That is what's left of Aamira. The piece of her soul that she gave me."

"Is that it?" Lucario asked. "Aamira's soul?"

"Part of it." Quill said. "How do we put it back together?"

"It needs energy." Darkrai said. "To call back someone with no memory or emotions, who does not have the will left to live, they'll need the energy of someone close to them. I have already tried, but I fear I'm not close enough to her to manage myself. My guess is that only a person she truly loved would be able to do it."

Quill did a double take in Lucario's direction. He had hoped that Lucario wouldn't notice, but he had no such luck.

"What is it?" Lucario asked.

At first Quill didn't know how to explain it, but then he remembered that Lucario couldn't hear a thing of what Darkrai said. "He said that her soul needs someone else's energy to bring her back. He can't do it since his soul is connected to hers and he thinks you'd be the best person to try since you've known her the longest."

"So I could bring her back if I did that?" Lucario walked up to the piece of Aamira's soul, but Ruko instantly blocked him with his cane.

"Hold on…" Ruko said. "I noticed this piece of her soul earlier, but there's definitely something strange about it. Don't go anywhere near it."

"But if I don't, we can't get her back." Lucario said. They waited for a minute and nothing happened. Ignoring all of Ruko's warnings, Lucario pushed his cane out of the way and stepped up to it. He held his hand near it and let some of his aura flow into it. After a second, there was a loud noise like someone striking once on the surface of a giant drum. Lucario took a step back and something started to form in front of Aamira's soul fragment.

This Riolu looked just like Aamira, down to her eye color and the scars on her arms. Even so, something was definitely wrong here.

"A-Aamira…?" Lucario said.

"Stay back!" Ruko said to Lucario and Quill. "That's not Aamira!"

The Riolu looked around at all of them with a blank expression, which slowly turned into a smile. "Ah, she's made many friends in my absence, I see. Let's see if I can remember all of your names. Quill, Lucario, Hunter, Ruko, and Darkrai, correct? Oh, don't look at me with those vicious expressions. How could you act so ferociously in front of your dear friend?"

"You're not Aamira…" Quill said. "Who are you?"

Her smirk widened more than before. "Oh, I am Aamira alright. Just not the one that you know. Now then, I should probably stop you all from meddling in my master's plans, as you no doubt will try to do."

Aamira held out her hand in front of her and fired an Aura Sphere at none of them in particular. The energy didn't seem dark, but it was still extremely powerful. Setting aside what it would have done if it had directly hit any of them, the energy radiating from the Aura Sphere was enough to push them all back.

Hunter got back on his feet and was about to unsheathe his sword when Ruko stopped him. "Use this instead." Ruko handed Hunter his cane. Hunter stared back at Ruko in shock, as if this was probably the last thing that Ruko would ever do.

Hunter twisted on the end of the cane and unscrewed the top of it. From inside the hollow cane, he pulled out a long sword that looked so magnificent that it put his own to shame. The blade was thin and made entirely of amber while the guard and hilt were made entirely of some kind of old petrified wood.

"That sword!" Lucario said. "How did you get that?"

Hunter glanced at him, but quickly turned back to Aamira with this new sword raised. "Whatever happens, don't interfere. I've been waiting for this for a long time."

"Oh, are you going to fight me?" She laughed. "You're a fool if you think you stand a chance against me. Against my weaker half, perhaps you could win. Against me though? You must be mad."

Hunter shouted and ran towards Aamira, swinging his sword over his head. Just as it was about to make contact right between Aamira's ears, she raised her hand and stopped it by grasping the blade with two fingers. Hunter was staring with his eyes wide with fear. This was without a doubt the same Aamira he knew from his time. So he couldn't stop that monster from being born after all.

Aamira's eyes started to glow and she knocked him back with nothing but her energy. She laughed again. "Brighteyes, they called her. I think I'm rather fond of the name myself." She raised her hand again and formed another Aura Sphere. "Well? Any last words, Hunter?"

"Hunter!" Ruko growled at him. "Remember what I told you about that sword. The edge is blunt. The material is soft. That blade alone can cut nothing."

Something seemed to occur to Hunter then. Something that he seemed to be ashamed of for not realizing sooner. He struggled back to his feet again and held his sword out in front of him. The sword started to glow as he infused his energy inside of it.

"As if that will do you any good." Aamira said. "Fine, give it a try. The blade is still as dull as ever."

Hunter took a single step forward and swung the sword, sending a wave of his energy towards Aamira. She raised her arms to block, but a second later let out a terrible shriek as the energy passed right through her arms. She raised her hand to attack with Aura Sphere, but nothing happened.

"What did you do!" She demanded.

Hunter was about to move in to finish her off, but Ruko raised his arm to stop him. Ruko moved towards Aamira and she backed away a few steps.

"You wouldn't hurt me." She said. "Brave and honorable old Ruko? No, you would never attack someone when they were defenseless."

"Who said anything about attacking?" Ruko said. He reached down and, to everyone's surprise, grabbed Aamira by the scruff of her neck and held her up to the fragment of the soul. "You're going right back where you belong and then we'll get the other Aamira back."

"No! You're not sending me back, not after I finally got free after all of this time!" Aamira kicked frantically as Ruko used Aura Seal and she gradually started to fade. She gave one last angry shout as she disappeared back inside the piece of the soul.

Ruko collapsed on the ground and struggled back to his feet, shaking with the effort as he did so. "I'm getting too old for this… Too old to even use Aura Seal without my limbs aching…"

Hunter rushed forward to help Ruko up as Lucario and Quill watched. Quill was still trying to piece together what had just happened, but Lucario's thoughts were elsewhere. A Lucario named Ruko and the sword, Amberwing, both in one location? There was no way this could be a coincidence.

"What was that?" Quill asked.

"That was indeed Aamira." Ruko said. "A different Aamira. That was most likely what she was like before she lost her memory. That being formed from her old memories had been locked deep inside of her soul. When her soul shattered, it must have been able to gain a tangible form and escaped once the necessary energy was supplied."

"So it's because of me that that thing got out?" Lucario asked.

"I'm afraid there was no way around it." Ruko said. "I've sealed it back though, so it should be safe to try again. Hopefully this time, we really will be able to get Aamira back."

Lucario nodded and stepped back up to the fragment of Aamira's soul. Once again, Lucario let his own energy flow into it. It was strange being able to sense her energy so close and yet feel no consciousness. The faster they got Aamira back, the better.

Quill had had enough of this. They had to get Aamira back. Whatever happened before or after that didn't matter. He just wanted to get her back so the two of them could go back home. "Please…" he whispered under his breath. "Please come back…"

There was a sound in the distance, which Aamira couldn't make out. What was that? Crying, perhaps? She opened her eyes and looked up. Everything above her was white. Where was she? She sat up and looked around. She was sitting on the surface of a lake surrounded in fog. Over on the shore of the lake, a little Cyndaquil was sitting alone and crying, watching his own tears splash into the surface of the lake.

Aamira moved a little closer, trying to figure out what had happened. "Why are you crying?"

The Cyndaquil gasped and looked up. He was really small, no doubt barely a year old, if that. "Who are you…?"

"I don't know…" she suddenly realized. There was something familiar about this, though she couldn't figure it out. "I had a name… what was it…? Aa-mir-a?"

The little Cyndaquil looked at her confused. He tried to pronounce her name, but tripped over the syllables as he did so. "Mer… mir… amer… What a strange name…"

"It means 'full of life'." Aamira recalled.

"Life?" The little Cyndaquil asked and started to giggle. "Your name is Life? That's a funny name. My name is Quill."

"It's… nice to meet you… Quill." Aamira said. "So why were you crying?"

Quill looked back down at his reflection in the water. "I was with my younger brother. He got sick. I brought him here, but the doctor couldn't do anything. He was even younger than me."

"What about your parents?" Aamira asked.

"Don't have any…" Quill said. "I remember running with my brother to come here, but nothing before that. Chansey, the doctor, said it was shock that made me forget. I don't think I met any electric types though, so I'm not sure how it could be shock."

"So you're all alone?" Aamira asked.

Quill sniffled and nodded, not wanting to look back up at his new friend.

"If you have no family, I'll be your family!" Aamira said.

"Really?" he suddenly seemed a hundred times happier. "You seem too young to be my mom though. Can you be my big sister?"

"Yea… Sure…" Aamira said, though she didn't entirely understand what he meant by this. Then she remembered. She was a girl, so of course she could be his big sister. "Do you live here?"

"No, this is Shroud Lake." Quill said. "It's on the edge of Vine City, where I live now. Do you live here?"

"I guess I must." Aamira said. "Vine city sounds familiar though. Are you sure I'm not from there?"

"I've never seen you before." Quill said.

"Oh…" Aamira said. "I must be from another Vine City, then! That must be it."

Quill turned to the sound of someone calling him in the distance. "I have to go. Chansey is calling me. Will you be here when I come back?"

Aamira nodded. "Of course!"

Quill smiled and ran off. She heard another pokemon talking in the distance about how glad she was to see that he was doing better.

Aamira waited in silence for her new friend to return. It didn't take long. Or did it? She couldn't tell, but she didn't mind waiting. She never seemed to get bored just sitting on the surface of the water.

Quill came running up to Aamira holding a box of some sort. "Look what Espeon gave me!" Quill said.

"Espeon?" Aamira said.

"She's a new teacher at the school. She got here around the same time I did apparently. She's really nice too. She said that if the owner of this box gets a friend to put an item inside it and then they bury it somewhere together, then they'll be destined to meet again at the spot it was buried if they ever get separated. I think we should do it so we'll meet again if we get separated."

"That's a good idea, but I don't think I have anything to put in it." Aamira said.

"Well what's in that bag around your neck?" Quill asked.

Aamira hadn't even noticed she was wearing a bag until now. She reached inside it and rummaged around a bit. None of the weird things in it looked particularly interesting enough to use as a memento. At the bottom of the bag she found the perfect thing. It was a beautiful feather that seemed to sparkle in every color of the rainbow.

"Wow, that's really pretty!" Quill said. "Are you sure you want to use that?"

"Yea, I think it's perfect!" Aamira said. She handed the feather to Quill and he put it in the box and locked it.

"We have to bury it somewhere now." Quill said. "Can you come out of the lake so we can bury it together?"

Aamira tried to step onto the shore of the lake, but as she tried, her foot dissolved into the mist. She pulled it back quickly and it reappeared. "I don't think I can…"

"What do we do then?" Quill asked. "We're supposed to bury it together or it won't work."

Aamira looked around for some sort of inspiration, but there was nothing but the lake. "Why don't we just throw it into the lake? I'm sure that would be close enough."

"Yea, that might work!" Quill stepped nervously into the water, making sure that it didn't go up higher than his waist. He didn't seem like the kind of pokemon who liked water.

Aamira took one end of the box and Quill took the other. The two of them swung it back and forth a few times before letting go of it. The box flew into the air and splashed down into the water. They weren't strong enough to throw it far, even together, but it eventually settled on the bottom of the lake and started to slide down towards the center, getting buried in mud as it did so.

The two of them smiled at one another and spent the rest of the day talking. Sometime later, a purple cat-like pokemon came running in their direction.

"Oh I was so worried." She said. "Quill, do you know what time it is? You need to be going home and getting into bed." She looked around confused for a moment. "I thought I heard you taking. Is there someone else here?"

"Hi Espeon! I was talking to my friend!" Quill said happily. "Her name is Life. She comes from the other Vine City."

"I-Is that so?" Espeon asked with a nervous smile. "Well I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to talk with your friend tomorrow. You need to be getting off to bed."

"Okay…" Quill got up gloomily and waved back at his friend as he ran back into the city.

Aamira was content to sit on the surface of the water for however long she needed to in order to wait for Quill to return, but then something else happened. Deep inside of the lake, she heard someone else calling to her. This person's voice was deeper. Aamira felt she knew him from somewhere, though she couldn't remember where. She was suddenly torn by an intense feeling of longing, but at the same time wanted to stay to wait for Quill. Then there was another voice. It sounded like Quill's but slightly deeper, as if a lot older.

"Please… Please come back…" The voice pleaded.

One voice was compelling enough, but between two of them, Aamira couldn't stand it. She dove into the lake to find the source of the two voices. Something was glowing brightly up ahead. She reached out her hand and clutched it in her fist. Suddenly she was no longer at the lake.

Where had she been? All of Aamira's memories and emotions suddenly rushed back to her at once, though she now had no recollection of where she had been before. She stared up at the figure holding her and screamed. Looming over her was an enormous white dragon pokemon with blue eyes. It was so big that it was able to hold Aamira in the palms of its hands.

"Oh, don't be frightened." The dragon said. "I know you must be going soon."

"Who… who are you…?" Aamira asked.

"My name isn't important right now." The white dragon said. "What is important is that you see what will help you soon. You've been carrying Mew's treasure around with you this whole time. Mew isn't a bad pokemon, he just needs to be reminded of what's really important to him. If he had known who you were, he wouldn't have done the things he had, I promise you that."

Aamira felt strangely calm in this dragon's hands. Her hands were covered in scales, though the rest of her body was covered in silky white feathers that seemed to glow with a strange warmth. It seemed strangely familiar.

"Before you go, I will help you with a certain problem you've been facing for some time now." The dragon bent her head down to Aamira and for a second Aamira was too scared of being eaten to even move. The dragon didn't hurt her though. Instead, she brushed her nose against the scars on Aamira's arm. For a brief moment, she felt a slight burning sensation, but then a second later, the scars were gone.

"Thank you…" Aamira said, almost too stunned to speak. "I was told that those scars would never fade."

The dragon smiled down at Aamira with something that looked like pride. "Our friends can help heal our scars, you know. Just remember, I will always be your friend, no matter what."

Aamira smiled and nodded. Somehow, she felt that she could trust this dragon. Somewhere in the distance, she heard Lucario and Quill calling out to her again.

"It's time for you to go." The dragon said. "Close your eyes. And when you open them again, everything will be as it should be."

Aamira did as the dragon instructed her. She started to hum a song that sounded vaguely familiar to Aamira, though she couldn't place it exactly. Within seconds, she had fallen asleep. In this dragon's warm hands, she felt that she would never have another nightmare again.

When Aamira woke up, her arm was outstretched in front of her. The first thing she noticed was that the fur on her arm had turned a shiny, almost gold color. That didn't seem to matter though. She opened her clenched fist, but there was nothing there. Standing inches away from her was Lucario, and a few feet away, Quill was standing with a stunned expression.

Quill ran towards them and Aamira, her eyes filling with tears, jumped towards the two of them and hugged them both. She couldn't remember what had happened after losing her emotions in Mew's castle, but that didn't matter. It was just a few hours more of her memory that she probably would never get back. She was just happy to be back with her friends.


	58. Chapter 58 Arceus

Aamira would never know how long she stood there with her arms around both Quill and Lucario, who were both looking slightly awkward, since they weren't used to Aamira showing her emotions so directly. She had stayed like that for a long time before she realized that Quill and Lucario weren't the only ones there.

After she finally released them, Aamira turned to Darkrai, but didn't dare meet his eyes. After all of the times she had accused him of being their enemy and doing whatever she could to prove it. Even so, she now realized the mistake she had made. Darkrai had been trying to stop Mew all along and when Mew had been disguised as Ralts, Aamira had helped to protect him.

"I'm sorry." Darkrai said, making Aamira jump.

She looked up at Darkrai and saw that he was extending his hand. She stared at him nervously, then after a short moment of hesitation, shook his hand. "I'm sorry too." Quill didn't see how she was able to bear touching Darkrai's hand when he himself had tried and felt that the coldness from it would burn him.

It happened the instant that Aamira took Darkrai's hand. 'I can't fight like this! Please, Darkrai. I can't even use Aura Sphere ever since Ho-oh gave me this scar. I'm sorry for everything I said before, but if either of us is going to make it through this, we need to do it. The moon is full; we can make the pact right now.'

Aamira pulled her hand away, immediately worrying that she might have insulted Darkrai by doing so, but he only seemed to be staring at her curiously. It took Aamira a second to realize what had happened. It had been so long since these thoughts from nowhere had entered her mind. She raised one of her hands up to her neck and felt that, sure enough, she was still wearing her scarf. After all of this time, it looked like she was finally able to use her Aura Reading abilities fully again.

'But I wonder why…' She thought to herself. 'From what I heard just now, I made that pact with Darkrai because I became unable to use my aura after Ho-oh gave me these scars. Becoming a Dark Reader was the only way I could control aura, even slightly. Even so…'

Aamira glanced down at her arm and nearly jumped when she saw that the scars had vanished. How had it happened? Something seemed to be nagging at her from somewhere in her memory, but she was having trouble willing it to the surface. Then it finally started to come back; a white dragon, the dragon's warm smile… But why couldn't she remember anything else?

"Are you alright?" Ruko asked. "You look shaken by something."

"No, I'm… just thinking." Aamira said.

A white dragon with blue eyes. She got a sense of what the voice had sounded like, but what had that voice said? That's right! She had said that Mew wasn't a bad pokemon and that Aamira had been carrying his treasure around with her. Could that be true? Aamira thought she would know it if she was. Slowly, the pieces started to come together.

"We have to find Mew!" Aamira said so suddenly that everyone nearly jumped.

"Why the sudden urgency?" Quill asked.

"He needs to know… something. What was it?" Aamira was started to get frustrated. It was better having her memory entirely erased. Having memories that only wanted to come back part way was torture. "He needs to know who I am. Or, who I was as a human. I think."

"You think?" Lucario asked. "You're not really giving us much to go on here. If you think it's urgent though, it's probably best to trust your judgment in this case."

"She's not entirely here, is she?" Hunter asked Ruko.

Ruko shook his head. "I'm afraid there may have been some damage, possibly reversible with time."

"Damage?" Aamira asked.

Ruko nodded. "When Mew caused you to toss aside your emotions, it caused your soul to shatter. Souls are the center of a person's aura. The energy contained within a soul is thousands of times stronger than any pokemon could wish to be able to control on their own. Putting something like a soul back together then isn't an easy task. All of the pieces are with you now, aside from the one which Darkrai still possesses, but they are still in shambles."

"This is the real Aamira this time, right?" Quill asked. "Not another split personality?"

"Yes and no." Ruko said while he tried to think of how best to explain. "Think of it this way. If you break a mirror, you can easily put the pieces back into place, but the cracks will remain. Fixing a mirror so that no cracks are visible is extremely difficult, but as long as the cracks exist in the surface, any image reflected in it would be distorted."

"So I'm a 'distorted image' of sorts of what I used to be." Aamira said.

"Do you remember what you saw when you were adrift inside the lake?" Ruko asked. "And do you feel at all peculiar the way you are now?"

"I was in some place that was really foggy, then there was this dragon pokemon, but other than that, I don't really remember much. As for how I feel now… I don't really know. It's really hard to describe, but it doesn't feel normal."

"As I expected." Ruko said. "Emotion, will, and memory are what hold together a soul. Since your soul is in shambles now, these things will likely be somewhat distorted for a while. My guess is that a strong enough resolve will help strengthen your will so that you won't want to stop in anything you find of great importance, but be careful all the same. I expect you two will keep an eye on her just in case?" he glanced over at Lucario and Quill.

"Of course!" Quill said. "Aamira would do the same if it was one of us instead of her."

"I… must apologize…" Hunter stepped towards Aamira warily. "I saw what that monster I had been hunting really was. Now I see why Ruko stopped me from chasing after you in the future, or, the alternate future, as it would be. There's a chance that if we go back that we could save you from that alternate personality of yours. Our world may be beyond repair at this point, but we could improve it greatly. I really should thank you for this. Just know that if anything happens and you don't have anyone else to turn to, that I will gladly fight along side you."

Aamira was somewhat taken aback by this. Unlike everything else, she could clearly remember coming across that other personality of hers. More than anything, she was just glad to know that she wouldn't become some evil-hearted monster. Probably. "Thank you, Hunter."

"We must be going." Hunter said. "You three go after Mew. Darkrai will show you the way into the dungeon beneath the lake. Ruko and I will head back to the forest. No doubt Lugia will want to know what has happened and the pokemon in the forest could most likely use our help."

"Hold on!" Lucario said just as they turned to leave. "I have to ask before you go. There's only one Ruko I know, and only one sword that I know like Amberwing. Are you… you couldn't be 'that' Lucario, could you?"

Ruko smiled slightly and took the amber sword from Hunter and hid it back inside his hollow cane. "You always were smart. If you wouldn't let bias cloud your mind, I daresay these two wouldn't have caught up to your Master Rank so easily. You always did have a habit for seeing what you wanted or expected to see. But yes, it is as you say, I am 'that' Lucario."

Aamira nearly ran towards Lucario, as he seemed to be about to collapse on the ground from shock. He managed to hold himself together enough to keep himself on his feet, at least, though he still needed a few minutes to think of what to say. "I ran, didn't I? I only thought I saw Mismagius… Because I expected it to happen, that's what I remembered."

"You finally understand." Ruko said.

"You could have helped us!" Lucario said. "You were my teacher, so shouldn't you have helped to fight Mismagius?"

It was then that Aamira understood. The Ruko they knew, being from an alternate future, seemed ancient to them. In their time though, he was a lot younger. This Ruko was in fact the king of Atra. Not only that, but also Lucario's father.

"I will explain everything. For now though, you must go find Mew. It is impossible to say what exactly Aamira saw while in the depths of the lake, but if she feels that finding Mew is a priority right now, there must be a reason behind it."

"There's a dungeon hidden near here, isn't there?" Hunter asked Darkrai. "Inside that dungeon, time moves the same as it would in the lake, so it's probably best not to spend too much time standing around."

Darkrai nodded and glided past all of them. He put his arm up to touch a certain point in space that rippled out in all directions. From the center of the ripples, a tear appeared in the air. Past it they could see a narrow passage that seemed to be suspended miles above whatever ground might have existed. If there was any ground, it was completely lost in the darkness.

"We will meet you back at the Sanctuary, provided everything goes well." Hunter said. "Good luck."

The three of them nodded and watched as Hunter and Ruko stepped through the faint multicolored mist surrounding the lake. The two of them vanished and Aamira turned back to Darkrai.

"I will stay here. If I were to go through the portal with you, you would have no way of getting back." Darkrai said. "You understand, don't you?"

Aamira nodded. "Don't worry. We'll definitely stop mew before he does anything he might regret."

The three of them hurried off into the passageway to the dungeon. They were surprised to see that the dark suspended passage wasn't as dark as they had originally seen. All around them were faint lights that looked a lot like stars, though it got progressively darker towards the ground until there were no stars left below them. Either way, the sky was lit up brightly as it was that seeing their way along the passage was no problem whatsoever.

Whatever doubts that Quill might have had about Aamira faded almost instantly. The second they entered the dungeon, she took off in the lead as naturally as she had ever done, defeating any of the pokemon that they came across.

One such pokemon that was extremely common was a species that none of them recognized. It seemed to be asleep and didn't seem to really bother them if they didn't get too close. It was pink and purple and was curled up in the air as it slept. There was something strangely like smoke that came from the top of its head.

"I wonder what that pokemon is called." Lucario said as they snuck by one, trying not to wake it. "It seems peaceful enough, but I wouldn't want to risk waking it up to ask."

"Musharna." Aamira said confidently without really knowing how she knew.

"Your Aura Reading ability came back to you so suddenly." Quill said. "Maybe it's just sort of going off randomly since you're not used to it now."

"Could be." Aamira said. She glanced down at her fur, which was still an odd, shiny color. Something so bright didn't seem very practical. She hoped that this was part of the after effect of being in the depths of the lake and that it would eventually fade. She wondered what other effects, aside from her sudden change in fur color and suddenly being able to read aura again being in the lake might have caused her.

As they got further into the dungeon, Quill noticed a sudden increase in the number of Vulpix. There had been quite a few of them on the way through, but the sudden increase was somewhat disturbing.

They had a very close call with one Vulpix which had snuck up behind Lucario. Before either he or Aamira could react, it had attacked with a powerful Fire Blast. Quill jumped between Lucario and the attack. He flared up the fire on his neck and lower back and with a sudden jerk of his neck, sent the Vulpix's flame off course to the left. He countered with his own Flamethrower, which was so strong that it sent the Vulpix running before it even hit.

"You just controlled the direction of the fire! Not only that, but it wasn't even your own fire. Where did you learn to do that?" Aamira asked.

"It was something I've been working on since arriving at the Sanctuary." Quill said. "I never had much luck with it, but I guess I've gotten better since I evolved."

"That's incredible!"

Quill scratched behind his ear, trying not to act too embarrassed. "Well, I don't think it's that big of a deal, really. You should see Lucario's Dragon Pulse. It's much more impressive, I think."

"I learned Dragon Pulse as a replacement for Dark Pulse soon after I was freed from the scepter." Lucario explained. "I didn't like how Dark Pulse made it possible to lose control of myself at times, so I decided to stop using it. Thinking about it now, though, it would probably be a good idea to have a dark type move to deal with ghost and psychic types.

"We'll just have to make do for now." Aamira said. "I'll cover you with my Sucker Punch if I need to. I really would like to see your Dragon Pulse though."

She didn't have to wait long. Soon enough, Aamira was attacked by a Dragonair and Lucario immediately came to the rescue with his Dragon Pulse. With Dragonair's ability to fly, it was able to ignore the boundaries of the narrow path. In spite of this, Lucario was still able to pull off an impressive victory.

They continued to the heart of the dungeon without too much of an incident. There were a few times when they had nearly been knocked off the narrow path by sudden attacks from flying pokemon, but they were able to recover.

Up ahead they heard what sounded like a loud roar. Soon, a couple of figures fighting in the distance appeared. There was an area where the path gradually widened so it became as big as a good sized corridor in most normal dungeons. In the center of the path was a Riolu who was fighting off what must have been the largest Gengar that they had ever seen.

The Gengar glided around the platform, attacking the Riolu with every move it had. The Riolu, who had the same confident grin throughout all of the excitement, easily dodged every attack and was able to successfully counterattack once the Gengar became solid and came close enough.

They watched as the Gengar started to glow and transformed into a Garchomp, which flew at much higher speeds than the slow ghost pokemon. This, they figured, was Mew, constantly using Transform to try to throw off his opponent. Even so, the Riolu barely batted an eye as he adjusted flawlessly to the difference in speed and strength and knocked the Garchomp out of the air with a well-timed Aura Sphere.

Before Mew hit the ground, he transformed again. This time, he became a Houndoom. For the first time, the Riolu's smirk faded and he flinched slightly at the sight of his opponent. In this brief span of time, Mew managed to land an attack with Flamethrower. Riolu stumbled backwards, but managed to right himself again and attacked with Force palm. They saw the Houndoom's muscles seize up as it was paralyzed and it collapsed onto the ground. It started to glow again and this time transformed back into Mew. Aamira was only slightly surprised to see that Mew's fur color had changed as hers had.

"Heh! I told you that the mock power you have was nothing compared to the original!" Riolu said with a triumphant grin.

"You beat Mew…" Aamira said. "And you made it seem so easy."

Riolu looked in her direction and his grin widened. "Ah, so you're impressed? I suppose you'll want my autograph now, eh? It's to be expected, I guess; all of the girls back home were really impressed by my amazing skills."

Aamira looked too stunned to speak suddenly. It was as if someone had dressed up Machop as a Riolu and somehow bribed mew into losing a battle just to make him look good. Even so…

Riolu laughed. "I'm only joking! Honestly, I might look young, but I'm over three hundred years old. Three hundred and fifty two to be precise. Of course at my age there are much more important things to do than impress the girls. Besides… Ugh, if Arcanine had heard what I just said…" he seemed to become suddenly panic stricken and not at all like the confident and powerful Riolu from a few minutes ago.

"Do you ever stop talking?" Mew floated weakly into the air and seemed determined to continue their battle, even though he clearly didn't have the strength.

"Hey, you shouldn't move!" Riolu said. "You're too badly hurt to keep going. Come on, Mew. We were friends, weren't we? There's no reason for us to keep fighting like this."

"Mew." Aamira walked and stood near the other Riolu. "You knew me as a human, didn't you?"

"Ah, a human." Apparently he really didn't ever stop talking. "I thought there was something strange about you at first."

"You didn't notice the odd fur color?" Quill asked. He ignored this question.

Mew didn't seem to be too surprised to see Aamira here, though he seemed to still be thinking about how best to get out of this situation. One Riolu was bad enough, but with him and three more pokemon, there was no way he would get out of her without losing consciousness if he had to resort to fighting. Some ultimate power this had turned out to be.

"We… er, that is to say, I knew you back then. Sort of." Mew said. "You didn't like the life you had, so I offered a way out in return for your help. Of course, Darkrai was constantly interfering."

"In other words, I knew I probably wouldn't survive what you were trying to do, but agreed to help you regardless, is that it?" Aamira asked.

Mew nodded. "So don't go acting on regrets on your decisions now! It was your own fault that you erased your memory before you were supposed to!"

Aamira nodded. "I understand, but that's not exactly what I meant when I asked if you knew me. Ruko told me a while ago that according to the legend, I would carry around the treasure of the pokemon who would become our enemy. He also mentioned that this pokemon had a friend who was the only one he could ever turn to. I immediately thought it was Darkrai because I carried his Nightmare Gem and because of Cresselia, but he was referring to you. Shortly after he said this, he also returned a valuable possession of mine to me."

Aamira reached into her bag and pulled out the music box. She opened the lid and set it on the ground, letting it play on it's own as she spoke. "I don't know who this friend of yours was, but this music box was yours at one point, wasn't it? You gave it to that friend of yours."

Mew stared at the music box, his eyes somewhat glazed over and unfocused as if trying hard not to reflect on something that he wished he didn't have to remember. "It is my music box. I gave it to a human child years ago. Being a legendary pokemon, I easily lost track of time. I assumed by the time that I returned to her world that she would just be entering into adulthood, but more timed had passed than I realized. I don't know what happened to her, but I never saw her again. She said that she would return to that lake every day until I came back. I waited and waited, but she didn't return. Instead, you appeared years later."

"I appeared at the lake where you two met." Aamira said. "And I had this music box?"

"No, not right away." Mew said. "Darkrai and I both acted as guardians of sort who preferred to watch over you from a distance, though we ended up as rivals of sort in the end. We didn't officially meet until shortly before you left for Atra. You had two human friends who you had started to meet by that lake though. One day, you told them about a strange package that had shown up for you. There was no note or anything. Inside it was the music box that you now have. She must have sent it to you, for some reason."

"But you don't know why she left?" Aamira asked. "Or why she didn't try to find you?" Mew shook his head. Aamira couldn't even tell where this was leading, but she had the feeling that it was important. "I have an idea. I'll try using my Aura Reader abilities. Maybe that would give both of us some answers."

She knelt down next to her music box. She couldn't help but think of how ironic it would be if her abilities wouldn't work the one time she needed them to, when they had been going off so frequently just before. She touched the top of the lid and only had to wait a few seconds before she heard anything. Unlike other times when she had heard something like a thought, this time she got the feeling that the words that came were from a song. Listening carefully to the music box, she heard that it actually matched fairly well to the first part.

Once the song on the music box started to replay, Aamira sang along with it. "By the morning light, I'm gone, but never feel alone. Listen closely to the wind, it sings of the warmth it brings."

This was all that Aamira had heard, but as soon as she was done singing, Mew immediately picked up where she had left off. "Oh, sing for me now my brave hero as your flames shine through the dominion of ice. Oh, sing for me now, brave hero and dragon of white."

Aamira suddenly remembered a dream that she had had so long ago. In it, she had been a baby Riolu, barely a hatchling, held in the arms of a Lucario who she assumed was supposed to be her mother. The presence of the music box in that dream led her to believe one thing.

"I think your friend was an adult by the time you came back to the human world. I think she might have been my mother."

Mew seemed to really look at Aamira for the first time. His ears fell slightly as he realized the sudden possibility. Although he had expected that she would have grown up, somehow he kept picturing his human friend as the child that she had been back then and never would have imagined that she had actually gotten married and had a child of her own.

But now he realized, it really did make sense. Aamira was an Aura Reader and so was his friend. The abilities of an Aura Reader worked differently for humans than it did for pokemon; they could only be passed down through the family, usually only to the youngest sibling, though he didn't understand how that could work.

"I didn't know…" he said. "I couldn't have know… I'm so sorry… But I was convinced… That pokemon who told me about the curses of Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit was always reliable in the past. She said it had to be an Aura Reader…"

Mew seemed to have suddenly come to a horrible realization, though when Aamira tried to question him on what it was, he clammed up and refused to speak. He wouldn't even tell him what kind of pokemon it was that gave him the advice to try to undergo these curses. All he would do is mumble something about someone who was up ahead of here.

"Should we keep going?" Lucario asked.

"We should." Aamira said. "I don't think that Mew was the one to blame for anything that's happened before. He was just being used as a puppet for someone else. I don't know why, but we have to find out. It can't be that they're up to anything good."

"Maybe this has something to do with your mother then? And your whole past by extent?" Quill said. "I know it sounds weird, but that's really the only thing connecting you and Mew. Maybe if we find the real culprit, you'll finally get a few answers about your past."

Aamira didn't answer right away. She just didn't know how. Being torn between her dreams and nightmares about memories that might not even be real, and spending all of this time with her present life conflicting with her forgotten past. Maybe it was important for her to know, but after a while she managed to make up her mind about it. "I don't want to remember. Just meeting that monster that was made from my old memories told me all I need to know about my past. Although… I guess there must have been some good details, as heavily outweighed by the bad as they may have been. I'd like to know more about my past, but remembering entirely is something I don't think I would ever wish for again."

"Well, let's get going then!" Riolu said, and was returned with some confused looks from his new allies. "Aw, come on! I'm on the same mission you all are on. I want to find the pokemon who tricked Mew as much as you do!" His voice trailed off and it was hard to hear what he said, but it sounded like he was saying that he had a good idea of who it might be. "Besides, two friends of mine have already gone off ahead."

"If you insist…" Aamira said.

"Geez, you're too serious! Lighten up a little, will you? I mean, I know you're not my direct descendant or anything, but I'd hate to grow old and die thinking that all Riolu of the future will spend all of their time acting like you and the other fellow!" He ran off ahead of them before any of them could reply. It took a few minutes to click, but Lucario managed to be the first to figure out who this newcomer was.

"He said his girlfriend was an Arcanine, didn't he?" Lucario said. "Come to think of it, it was the same for the first Riolu, who was created by Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit. And what he said earlier about the false power Mew had gotten not being as good as the real thing…"

Quill let this sink in for a moment. He suddenly remembered why that Typhlosion from the vision that Darkrai had shown him had looked so familiar. What were the odds, from the time of the first Aura Reader and Guardian pair, that they would be a Typhlosion and a Riolu and after who knows how many years later, he and Aamira would form a team together.

"We should get going…" Quill finally said. "He's almost out of sight already."

It only took one attack from some strange, furry, bat-like pokemon to put them entirely out of sight of Riolu. Seeing as how they still had the same number of allies as before and that Riolu was already so strong on his own, neither of their groups had really lost much from their untimely separation. Seeing as how they were both traveling with the same goal in mind, they would probably meet up some time later.

Eventually they came across something that didn't seem to belong at all. It looked like some sort of gateway, but the elaborate frame on it reminded them of the Looking Glass. There was no path beyond here. Stepping through it would probably transport them somewhere entirely different.

"Are you ready for this?" Aamira asked both of her teammates. The two of them nodded, though they both looked uneasy. She wondered if she looked as uneasy as they did, but figured it didn't matter much.

Aamira stepped up to the iron gate, which swung open the second she touched it with one of her paws. It felt like they were taking a leap of faith, stepping through a gate onto a path that they couldn't see, but they went through regardless. Was the floor invisible, or was there really no floor? Whatever it was, they really were able to walk past the gate. Quill turned as he walked through it last to find that the gate had vanished behind them.

"Where are we?" Quill asked.

"I have a feeling I've been here before…" Lucario said.

Aamira wasn't listening. Up ahead was a pokemon who looked vaguely familiar, although not exactly how she had remembered him looking from before. His claws had gotten much longer and he now had dark brown spikes covering his back in place of the sandy colored brick pattern and partially concealing the scars he got from when Honchkrow had attacked him. Apparently evolution did nothing to get rid of them.

"Sandshrew?" Aamira said. "Or, Sandslash, as I assume you would go by now?"

Sandslash's ears twitched and he turned to face Aamira. He looked as though he had been crying, but he glared ferociously at the three of them nonetheless.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded in a less than steady voice. "You weren't supposed to be the ones to come here. How is it that you're all still alive?"

"Don't tell me, you've been the one behind all of this from the start!" Quill said. "I know you had your reasons for your betrayal, but I just couldn't accept it if it was really you right from the beginning. There's just no way!"

"And why's that?" Sandslash demanded. "Because I was too small and weak before? Because I couldn't see? Because—"

"Because you weren't that kind of person!" Aamira interrupted. "And I don't think you are now either. What are you doing here?"

Sandslash seemed to be glaring at them more ferociously than before. "That's none of your business!" He said with an angry wave of one of his claws. "Just get away from here now! You're not supposed to be here!"

In spite of the bravado he was trying to put on, all of them noticed as he suddenly started to shake. Something told them that he wasn't here of his own free will. Whatever it was that was keeping him here had obviously frightened him.

"Oh come now, Sandslash, dear." The three of them turned to the voice of the new pokemon who had appeared. It was probably one of the most beautiful pokemon that any of them had ever seen. She was a Ninetales, though she didn't look like others they had seen. Her tails were much longer than an average Ninetales' and her fur had this strange ghostly blue glow. "Is that any way to welcome our guests? They're here now, so we might as well allow them to wait here with us."

"You're that Ninetales from the lake!" Quill blurted out without thinking.

She stared at him for an uncomfortably long amount of time before finally replying. "So Darkrai showed you the vision of his creation, did he? Yes, I tried to warn those foolish legendary pokemon to stop what they were doing. They just wouldn't listen, however, and it cost us our home."

"Is that why you're doing this?" Lucario asked. "You want revenge on the legendary pokemon for driving you away from your home?"

Ninetales laughed and sat on the ground in front of them. "Oh, don't be ridiculous!" She flicked the end of one of her tails in Aamira direction and Aamira's bag immediately started fighting to pull free from around her neck. Aamira pulled on it has hard as she could, but eventually the thing that Ninetales was trying to pull out came loose from the bag and flew in her direction. She looked up at the beat up old diary, flipping a few pages and shaking her head, disappointedly. "My granddaughter didn't do well to keep this book in good condition, it seems. Such a pity; I had written down all of the great events of the world in this book."

"You're her grandmother who wrote the diary?" Aamira asked. "But you look so… young!"

"Yes, well that is the effects of one who spends their life raised on the spring of immortality. Though, to be completely truthful, we weren't supposed to drink from that spring constantly as I did. Ah, I remember when I was just a little thing, the elders would be so furious whenever they caught me drinking the water when I wasn't supposed to. I assure you, I do age, unlike my lord, though at a very slow rate."

"You mean there's someone else you're working for?" Lucario asked.

"No, wait. You mean the Vulpine Lord, don't you?" Aamira asked. "Since you were alive back then, you must have met him in person. I know you said he didn't age, but don't you think that's just a little disillusioned? No Ninetales has seen him since he left the lake, right? He probably died a long time ago."

"Oh, don't be so foolish!" She said angrily. "He is truly immortal. I should know, as I was the one who told him the secret of our lake long before he was ever put in charge of our noble clan! I work for him even now. Just as you had, before your betrayal."

"What!" Aamira said.

"Don't listen to her." Quill said. "She's probably just trying to unnerve you. Even so, I think she really does know something about your past, even if she's not going to tell us the truth willingly."

"Me, lie?" Ninetales said, acting as if she was absolutely offended by this. "I will have you know, I have never lied in my long life. I was once called Silvertounge by my clan. Not because I lied, but because of my fantastic abilities of enhancing the truth. Of course, anyone who read my diary would think that I was really no more than an old scribe, traveling the world and recording events of what happened. Just because I left out the small parts I played, does that mean I lied about them? I should think not. Nor do I lie now. And you should know, aside from waiting for Atra's prince to show up, I'm also under orders to bring you back home. You've jeopardized an extremely important mission by your betrayal, only adding to my workload."

"But the prince of Atra…" Aamira glanced in Lucario's direction, but quickly looked back towards Ninetales, hoping she hadn't noticed.

"Oh, not him!" Ninetales said. "You should know by now that the true heir of Atra can only be a true Aura Reader. Someone with half an Aura Reader's aura wouldn't fit the position at all! Yours comes close, of course, although there were much greater plans created concerning your future, which I doubt you remember now."

"How do you know about my amnesia?" Aamira asked.

"Oh, my lord has known for quite some time." She said with a grim smile. "He's been keeping a close watch on you ever since Atra. He's been following your movements all along. But never mind that. Your friends there are useless to our plans. Maybe watching them suffer will help you remember your place. I'd advise you to not do anything rash, or you will only end up getting hurt as well."

"Is that a challenge!" Quill shouted, making the fire flare up on his neck and back.

"Oh and when did I say that I would be the one fighting you?" She said with a sly smirk. "Oh Arceus, dear. Please get rid of Aamira's meddling friends for me, will you?"

They heard Sandslash shriek from behind them and turned to see an enormous pokemon materializing right in front of their eyes. Everything about this pokemon seemed to radiate power. The three of them got an overwhelming feeling that they should run, but their sudden fear kept them held in place, barely able to move.

Arceus roared and a variety of plates appeared and started to circle around him at his waste. They had never seen anything like this. Aamira remembered a little about the legend involving Arceus creating the entire universe, but her memory, being worse than usual, didn't do much to help them. This was no doubt going to be one of the most challenging battles they had ever faced.

Arceus swung his head through the air and attacked the three of them with Draco Meteor. Finally coming back to their senses, they all counterattacked; Aamira with Aura Sphere, Quill with Flamethrower, and Lucario with Dragon Pulse.

Arceus ran circles around them and attacked with Extremespeed. Lucario nearly had all of the wind knocked out of him, as he took the brunt of the attack. While he was distracted, Quill countered from behind with Flame Wheel.

Arceus roared in pain and the plates surrounding him spun even faster than before. They all started to glow a dazzling white color and he attacked with some sort of beam attack. Aamira remembered now that Arceus had the special move, Judgment, which changed type depending on Arceus's types. The plates, she assumed, were what controlled his type. Right now, he hadn't really tapped into their power, so it was only a normal type attack. Even so, Quill was right in the path of the attack. Before the attack could land, Aamira ran out in front and blocked it. While it did a lot of damage, it did less to her than it would have to Quill due to her resistance to normal type attacks.

Arceus seemed to notice the flaw in this. The plates continued to spin until they came to a stop with a sky blue colored plate directly above Arceus. He started to glow and all of the rings and the skin on his stomach turned a pale blue color. Aamira had a bad feeling that this was the plate that turned him into a flying type. This was DEFINITELY going to be one of their most difficult battles.

What attacks between them did they have that were good against flying type attacks? Aamira couldn't think of any. Even so, they continued to hit Arceus with every attack they had. Eventually, Arceus used Judgment once more, this time aiming for Aamira. It was Lucario's turn to intercept the attack. Luckily, because he was part steel type, it didn't do as much damage to him as it would have done to Aamira. This, they assumed, seemed to make Arceus even more enraged.

The plates started to spin faster around him again, this time coming to a stop with a bright red one at the top and his markings turned a bright red to match it.

"I have an idea, but it's risky!" Aamira said between Arceus's attacks. "What if we can knock one of those plates out of its orbit around Arceus?"

"That's insane!" Quill said, though he smiled. "What's the plan?"

"We need to combine our attacks and time it for right after the plates stop spinning after he uses Judgment. If we all use our strongest attacks, it's sure to work."

"Aim for the dragon type plate." Lucario said. "I'm not sure if types work the same way with these plates as they would with pokemon, but if I combine my Dragon Pulse with your Sucker Punch, which will, as you said a while ago, raise my attack, it should make it a lot more powerful. Combined with Quill's strongest attack…"

"Eruption!" Quill said. "I've combined Eruption with Sucker Punch before. With this combo, we can't lose!"

"Alright, timing is everything!" Aamira shouted as she dodged one of Arceus's Draco Meteors. "Just before the plates stop, we have to attack, but only if they stop on the dragon one."

"But which one's dragon?" Lucario shouted back.

Aamira attacked with Aura Sphere will looking at all of the orbiting plates, trying desperately to remember which was which. "That one! The sort of dull red colored one!"

Lucario and Quill nodded and attacked from all sides, trying to get Arceus to use Judgment one more time. Unfortunately, before they could get him to do it, he turned on Lucario and attacked with Overheat. Quill and Aamira were too far away to come to his rescue and Lucario was just recovering his footing from a tricky maneuver he was forced to make to get his attack to hit and couldn't dodge in time.

Quill and Aamira heard a loud shriek, but it didn't sound anything like Lucario's voice. They waited for the flames to vanish to see what had happened. Lucario had apparently been pushed out of the way by the Riolu who stood there now, doubled over with pain and covered in burns.

Aamira and Quill rushed to Riolu's aid, but he had already lost consciousness by the time he got there.

"There's no time!" Lucario hastily got back to his feet. "Look!"

They looked up at Arceus, who was preparing to use Judgment again. Quill tried to slow the attack down by controlling Arceus's flames, but against a pokemon like this, it was no good. The best they could do was hastily grab the unconscious Riolu and get out of the way as fast as they could, with Quill staying behind to act as their shield.

Lucario sat Riolu down off to the side so that he wouldn't likely be hit a stray attack and hurried forward to join Quill, who was just pulling himself together from that attack, and Aamira who had already run back to where they had been standing moments before.

The plates had already started to spin rapidly again. Apparently Arceus felt that he needed a really powerful move this time, because just as they had planned, it started to come to a stop on the dragon type plate. Mustering every bit of strength they had left, the three of them attacked with their combined attacks. Aamira attacked first and Lucario attacked second to give Lucario's attack the full benefit from the power boost. Quill attacked last since his Eruption took longer to charge up and gave it a final boost of power as their attack flew towards Arceus.

Their attacks hit the dragon plate, which, after a few seconds of their attacks pushing against it, was knocked out of the orbit and thrown at least two hundred yards away. This had apparently caused a sort of chain reaction, because with the dragon plate gone, the other plates fell out of their position. Arceus had started to feel the effects of their other attacks without his plates to give him strength, and tried to hold himself up with his knees. Only moments later, however, he had collapsed, apparently unconscious.

"NO!" Ninetales shouted, suddenly sounding so much older than she had before. They were all hit with a powerful Extrasensory and thrown back almost to where Riolu was still laying unconscious. "This is impossible! How could you… you CHILDREN defeat Arceus!"

Aamira was cringing from pain, much like Lucario and Quill were, but either she was imagining it, or it didn't hurt as much as it should have. In fact, if anything, she suddenly felt stronger than before. She glanced down to her wrist, which still had her Ravage ring on it. She never took it off, so it was no wonder why she had forgotten about it until now.

Ninetales walked closer to them, seemingly expecting them all to be out cold. "I'll just have to finish off her friends myself." Ninetales inhaled and started to glow, apparently about to use an Overheat of her own.

Before she got her chance though, Aamira was back on her feet and had attacked with Sucker Punch. Her attack, however, hadn't done as much damaged as she had hoped and Ninetales hadn't even been knocked off of her feet. She was getting ready to use another attack already, but by this point Aamira was exhausted and was desperately trying to find a way to end this quickly, but how?

At that exact moment. Ninetales was knocked back by a powerful gold and silver Aura Sphere. "Aamira! Catch!"

Aamira turned to see Roy, throwing something large and metallic in her direction. She caught it and was surprised to find that she was now holding the Aura Scepter. Where had Roy found it? How did he even get here? It didn't matter. All that mattered was that she had it now.

Aamira ran towards Ninetales just as she was getting up and brought the end of the Aura Scepter down on her shadow. She shrieked and immediately started to be drawn into the Pure Quartz at the top, though she was putting up much more of a fight than Mismagius had evidently, since even by using her own aura to help her, Aamira was having difficult preventing Ninetales from escaping.

Her consciousness was starting to slip. There was no way she would be able to keep a hold of Ninetales for much longer. Luckily, she suddenly wasn't the only one holding onto the Aura Scepter. Roy had appeared at her right and Lucario had appeared at her left, though he seemed to he struggling to stay on his feet.

Ninetales seemed to realize that she had met her match up against the three of them and that her psychic attacks wouldn't work on Aamira. She realized though that even though she couldn't move much more than just her face, she was still capable of attacking.

She opened her mouth and Attacked with Overheat, only to find that for some reason it wouldn't reach their target. All it accomplished was tiring her out even further. She looked past her three foes to find that standing behind them was a Typhlosion and Aamira's Quilava friend, both glowing brightly with their flames suddenly turning a blue color. So they had somehow managed to control her own fire and shield their friends.

"No, it can't end like this!" She howled and she was nearly entirely drawn into the scepter. "Please, my lord! Help me!"

But no help ever did come. Ninetales vanished inside the Pure Quartz, which continued to glow faintly before finally fading. All five of them collapsed from exhaustion, but the Typhlosion stood up instantly and ran over to Riolu.

"Young master!" He shouted. "Are you alright?"

Riolu had just regained consciousness and was staring up at Typhlosion's sad eyes. He gave one of his signature goofy smiles, which did nothing to reassure his friend. "What's the matter, Giga? We beat her didn't we? Although I thought for sure it was that Houndoom…"

"Please, don't talk. You need to save your strength." Giga said.

Riolu laughed. "Oh come on. It's not like I'm actually dying. I won't die until we get back to our own world. I've known it was coming for a while now, but I didn't know how exactly. All of those times you tried to teach me that being a hero didn't always mean taking all the glory, I never really understood. I think I understand now. I might not have played a big role, but that Lucario was pretty worn out from battling, wasn't he? Up against that Overheat, he probably wouldn't stand much of a chance. I'm glad I could do something to help, even if it was as small as becoming a shield."

"Even so, you agreed to battle Houndoom the moment we returned. Are you seriously saying that you're still going to go in this state, knowing you won't survive?"

Riolu nodded. "I've been waiting for it for a while. I'm glad I got to meet some of my descendants first. Unfortunately, I'm not going to live to see any of my own children hatch. Either way, I'm glad I had some impact on the things that have happened, in multiple times. Thank you for always taking me with you, Giga. I know I got annoying at times. You're the best partner I could have hoped for, and not just because you're an Aura Guardian. I know it sounds kind of cheesy, but you're my best friend too, so don't put that flame of yours out with your tears, okay?"

To their surprise, Giga actually gave Riolu a quick slap across the face. "You idiot! As if I was going to cry for an annoying pest like you! Stop making things sound so over dramatic!"

Riolu laughed, but didn't say anymore. He stood up shakily on his feet, so they could all see the real extent of his burns. To think he would go into battle like this was unthinkable. A second later though, Giga had started to glow.

"Oh, Aamira!" Riolu shouted. "I really am sorry about how I acted earlier. I just remembered that it made you really upset the first time we met, even though that hasn't technically happened yet. I thought it would be funny. Anyway, I hope you stay good friends with that Felix fellow, if you've met him already. Remember not to wander around after dark when the moon is visible!"

"Hurry!" Giga shouted. Riolu grabbed his hand and started to glow along with him. The next second, both of them had vanished.

"I had always wondered how it happened." Lucario said. "The first Riolu's story was famous in Atra. He valiantly defeated his arch enemy, Houndoom, every time they fought. Even so, he ended up dying in their final battle. Now I see it was because they came to our time to help us. He saved my life and he's going to die because of it."

"Don't say that; he's technically already dead, isn't he?" Aamira said. "Besides, if they can go through time all they like, it's not as if we might not meet again. The way he spoke before clearly seemed to suggest it. Maybe next time we'll be of some help to him."

"It was him!" Quill said excitedly. "My ancestor who became part of the tree back in Vine City was Giga! He was Celebi's guardian, which was why they could travel through time, that must be it!"

"Both of our ancestors working together, huh?" Lucario said. "I wonder if something like this could have happened by coincidence."

They both turned to the sound of some loud crying. Sandslash was hugging his brother tightly while Roy was doing his best to comfort him. Apparently he had gotten himself into more trouble than he had expected and in the end he ended up being threatened by Ninetales. If his crying was one thing, they had been drowned out by the multiple apologies.

Aamira stood up shakily and picked up the Aura Scepter. "I'm guessing that Ninetales was controlling Arceus before, which was why he had gone mad and attacked us. Being trapped inside here should have broken her control over him though. We'll have to find someone to guard this for us. Before that though, let's go back to the Sanctuary. I could do with a little rest."

Lucario and Quill nodded in agreement. Roy and Sandslash agreed to go along, though only because Roy had insisted that no one would blame Sandslash for anything he had done before. More than anything, they were all just glad that after all of this, they were finally going to have some time to relax. For everything they had done, it was the only reward they could have wished for.


	59. Chapter 59 What Was Lost

Aamira, Quill, and Lucario were all sitting in one of the high boughs of the tree that made up the sanctuary. Parts of the forest were still on fire, though it was mostly under control now. While this particular tree was immune to fire, due to it once having been home to Ho-oh and her family, there were still a lot of pokemon that lived out in the forest that had suffered from the fire.

They themselves would have helped to put out the last of the fires, had it not been for the fact that every inch of their bodies was aching from that battle with Arceus and Ninetales. They had each been stuck in their beds for around four days, barely able to move, after waking up on the first day each with excruciating pain.

The first thing that Aamira had done after finding that she could finally stand again was go to the library to read the scroll again. She had read bits and pieces and finally understood what they had meant, but she couldn't read much of it before she started to feel sick. Instead, she had written down the prophecy, which with her strangely distorted memory, she was able to recall word for word after a bit of thought.

The place both known and unknown had been this world, since Aamira had been here once before, but had lost any memory she had had of it. The three heroes, of course, referred to her, Quill, and Lucario. A memory of old and a grand and evil legend either referred to her other personality, which was now safely sealed back inside her soul, or to the first Riolu. She couldn't tell which. The memory that guarded the secret of life was referring to her other personality keeping the secret that she had once intended to be Lucario's enemy. This, she figured, meant that the memory of old was in fact her other personality after all.

The war between darkness and light must have referred to when she had gone after mew to Save Quill. The shadow that joined the fight referred to Shadow Lugia. The next part about the legend apparently being fulfilled and everything being lost referred to how she had lost to Mew in the end.

Sealed in a dream both cruel and kind, alone you'll search for what you must find. This was the part that really got Aamira. What had happened to her when she was in that lake? She could still only remember bits and pieces of it. She figured that this was what made the dream she had "cruel".

The next part about losing something and lies being truth in nightmares and dreams… She wasn't entirely sure about this part. But then the next part… The eye of the moon opening obviously referred to Darkrai opening it under the eclipse to allow Quill, Lucario, and the others to get through. The part after that was what was somewhat irritating. "But what have you lost? Will you see it again soon?" Does that mean that even now, Aamira wasn't supposed to know? She felt that this prophecy might just haunt her for the rest of her life.

A forgotten betrayal… Aamira figured that this might have meant her betrayal of whoever she had worked for before losing her memory. The pact of the moon's eye was the pact she had made with Darkrai, obviously. She didn't know what the secret of the mark was. Maybe it had something to do with her scars that had disappeared? When the lost is finally found. There was that word again. What had she lost? Turning to the air or being tethered was somewhat of a spin on a common metaphor comparing the sky to freedom. She found this somewhat eerie, considering how she had wished she could fly by her own power ever since she had become a pokemon.

The one with red eyes referred to her, of course. She didn't know what this key might be though. Turning gold to lead? She figured this phrase meant that the secret she had could lead to destruction. The first Riolu was mentioned of course, but he seemed to know a lot about the future. Maybe it meant their future, not his. Its three creators helping him… she hoped this meant that they would give them a little of their strength to fight Houndoom with.

The next parts about the two siblings obviously referred to her and Quill. The past returning to present referred to the first Riolu again. The future had undoubtedly been changed, which considering what Ruko and Hunter were like, was a good thing. The prophecy was written to counter light, which she expected meant that it was so they could defeat Mew. The two blackest nights Aamira could only guess referred to her and Darkrai.

The next part was that only those who could find the truth would find freedom for everyone. The traitor among the two sets of siblings was obviously Sandshrew, or Sandslash as he was called now, though no one blamed him. The betrayer betrayed unsealed… this could only mean Mismagius. Aamira felt terrible for what had happened to her. The third not knowing of the pact referred to Lucario.

The three of them reuniting and the music box referred to how they had confronted Mew in the end. She didn't know what the tears referred to, or the freedom mentioned afterwards when they would be "freed from the ground". Then again, if that was mentioned right after their confrontation with Mew, it was possible that it hadn't happened yet. The damage done by the pact and what they both lacked… Aamira wasn't sure, but she though this might have something to do with her and Darkrai. They were both without friends when they first met, maybe that was what they both lacked. Still, that didn't seem much like damage to her.

One of them would go off on a quest alone and forgotten… No, it was too soon for Aamira to be thinking of what this might mean. The rift between worlds would be freed once she discovered what she lost maybe? What did that mean? But there being gold and not lead must mean that everything would turn out alright in the end. The world being gone except in dreams probably referred to this world, since it was the world where pokemon went when they were asleep. Hopefully this meant that they would go home soon.

The true evil one, or their enemy, was Arceus, who was being controlled by Ninetales. Of course they would forgive him, since he wasn't really acting on his own free will. The last treasure probably meant Arceus's treasure. After they told Ruko what had happened, he returned to the lake and found that Ninetales had been using his treasure to control him. After managing to find it, Ruko put everything right again. Still, after the pokemon of both Aequor and Ignis had failed in their attempts to control a legendary pokemon… Ninetales really was powerful.

The three becoming two and then one must refer to them leaving this world behind and returning home. What destiny shows… Aamira wasn't sure about this, but it felt as if something was attempting to resurface in her memory as she thought about this part. It was mildly irritating, so she decided to try to figure this part out later.

The goodness of night meant there wouldn't be any more prejudice towards darkness. Aamira was glad for that at least; Darkrai really did deserve more visitors at his lake. Worn by the ages… something from a long time ago was forgotten, but was spoken of in a sage's song. The prophecy continues… Aamira was starting to feel somewhat desperate. She remembered Ruko was referred to as a sage before though, so maybe he had some answers.

She had laid in the branch of the tree with her two friends thinking of all of this in silence, barely even hearing what Quill and Lucario had been talking about.

"So Sandslash was promised to be given sight by Mew, from what I heard in the castle." Quill said. "But then he told me later that Ninetales had come along, pretending to be a prisoner like him after he had failed at an important mission. She said that Mew was using him like he used everyone else, but offered him his sight if she would do him a few favors. One of them was to help her break out of the castle, but that was mostly just an act to help gain his trust."

"But he can see now, can't he?" Lucario, who had never met him as a Sandshrew, asked.

"He can. Apparently evolution fixed his eyesight." Quill said. "I guess Roy wasn't around when the eclipse started, since he didn't get to evolve. Apparently we can only evolve during the start of the eclipse, when the suns and moons first cross."

"But Aamira didn't evolve." Lucario said. "From what you've told me though, Mew has been trying to harness a fair amount of power for a long time. Evolution requires a lot of energy, so he probably managed to take that energy when Aamira was wearing that pendant he made from the chain links and sea crown."

"Your guess is better than any I might have come up with." Quill said. "I don't know, this all feels somewhat surreal, doesn't it? It's hard to believe that this is all finally over."

"I've been thinking about that prophecy ever since Aamira told it to us on the way back from the lake." Lucario said. "It seems like there's still a lot left of it that hasn't happened yet. I'd like to go home and try to find the Ruko from our time. He's probably wandering around somewhere in Atra. Or he's taken control of the kingdom again. It would be nice to finally see it covered in living plants and with a sky full of stars."

"Ruko's still going to explain why he didn't help us before though, isn't he? I hope he hasn't forgotten. By the way, you mentioned that sword before. Amberwing, was it called?"

"It's a sword passed down by the kings of Atra." Lucario said. "You probably saw it hanging in the foyer of the castle when you were there, but didn't pay much attention to it because there were so many interesting things hanging on the walls. It doesn't particularly stand out compared to the rest."

"I guess so…" Quill said. "So who do you think Hunter is? We never did hear anything about him. I mean I'd assume that he's Ruko's student, though I don't think he would be willing to teach every pokemon who would come up to him and ask."

"Just one more thing to ask him later, I guess." Lucario looked over at Aamira, sitting against the tree trunk some distance away, completely lost in thought and still wearing that scarf that he had made for her so long ago. "She hasn't spoken in a while."

"Not since we came back." Quill said. "I kind of understand how she feels. I sort of just want to lay back and try to take in all that's happened so far."

"So far? Let's just pretend for the time being that all of this is finally over."

Quill laughed. "Right."

The two of them talked for a while longer. Aamira had started to listen in on the conversation, though she didn't have anything to add to it. By now all of the suns were fairly high in the sky. The different positions of the suns made the shadows of the leaves seem strangely distorted compared to what she was used to back in their world. Still, the weather was nice, a flock of Swellow was flying nearby… she felt that her mood should be reflecting the nice weather, but she felt strangely detached from everything.

She watched the few Pachirisu who were climbing all over the tree in the branches above them and the bird pokemon that were flying around the edge of the tree. She watched, stunned for a second, as she saw a pokemon who looked like a Pachirisu suddenly extend its arms, revealing small membranes, and jumped out of the trees, gliding slowly towards the forest below them. There were still a lot of pokemon that she didn't know the names of. She wondered if she ever would.

Lucario and Quill were too deep in conversation and Aamira too deep in thought to notice when one of the bird pokemon who had been flying around their branch suddenly landed near them.

"What, I get kidnapped and lose my memory and when I come to find my saviors, I don't even get a proper good morning?" She asked.

"Altaria!" Aamira suddenly sat up straight. "So your memory's back? How's Charizard's wing doing?"

"Charizard is fine." Altaria said cheerfully. "Still, I don't think he was expecting to run across a Lugia any time soon. It came as a bit of a shock. But aside from me getting my memory back, Charizard has started to challenge some of the pokemon around the Sanctuary to battles. He's back to his old self it seems. Oh and you should see Raichu. I've never seen the last time he's cared about anything. Just this morning, he saved one of those adorable Pachirisu who fell out of the tree, and get this; he actually asked if she was alright!"

"I find that hard to believe." Quill said with a smile. "I'm going to have to see some evidence before I believe anything as farfetched as that."

"Ah, Raichu!" Lucario said. "The one from Tempestas? I haven't seen him in years. When I first went to Tempestas on a mission for Mismagius, he promptly challenged me to a battle and I promptly… lost."

"I'm not alone, at least." Aamira said. "Of course, I'm not really sure if you could call it a loss. Or even a battle for that matter… Which reminds me, what happened to Raikou, Suicune, and Entei?"

"Gone." Altaria said. "What do you expect? They're completely disgusted with us. They ran off saying something about finding new homes in this world. I daresay we'll never see them again. Ho-oh, on the other hand, has been doing much better. Can't remember a thing of what she did though, poor dear. I understand how she feels."

"It's probably for the best." Quill said. "She did attack us multiple times, gave Aamira scars that we thought would never heal, and set her own forest on fire… Yea, she's probably better off not knowing."

Lucario stood up and stretched his still aching limbs. "I think we've had enough idle talk. I'm going to go find Ruko and see what's been going on. Maybe get a few answers."

"We'll come too." Quill glanced in Aamira's direction. She nodded and got up to follow them.

They descended the tree slowly, with a little help from Altaria in a few of the trickier places. At the base of the tree, they found that Raichu and Charizard were immersed in a battle. Altaria sighed and shook her head as they walked past them. It was nice seeing Raichu with an expression other than moody, but it looked like they were going to overdo it quickly. Charizard and Raichu were both fairly strong pokemon, after all.

They found Ruko near the shrine inside the hollow at the base of the tree trunk along with Hunter, Roy, Shadow the Umbreon, Lugia, and Mew. Mew was shaking with nerves and speaking to Cresselia's statue. No doubt he was finally admitting that he had been the one who disguised himself as Darkrai and apologizing to Cresselia for turning her to stone.

'…quite alright. I forgive you. For as long as I remain in this state, I will continue to protect the Sanctuary.'

Cresselia's voice suddenly entered their minds as they came near.

'Ah, and the Riolu from before. I should apologize to you as well.' Cresselia said as they came near. 'I should not have let mew's deception turn me against Darkrai so easily. If he had not, I would not have lost my temper so easily.'

"That's okay." Aamira said. "I thought Darkrai was an enemy for a long time too. But you know, you've been helping me out for a while anyway. This scarf was apparently made from your feathers."

"Oh, that's right." Lcario said. "Lunar Wings come from Cresselia, don't they?"

'I gave a few of them as a gift to an Atran king many years ago. It is nice to know that they have been put to good use. As an apology, would you like to see the memory of how I was born? With shadow's consent, of course, as it concerns him.'

The three of them looked towards Shadow who nodded. "I was planning to tell them anyway."

"How could this involve you though?" Quill asked. "Cresselia's a legendary pokemon who was born a long time before you were, right?"

"Not exactly." Shadow said. "Just show them, would you?"

The three of them were suddenly back on the lakebed. All of the plants seemed to have withered away into nothingness over the span of the years. The was a rustling in a dead bush near the lake and Darkrai suddenly appeared hovering above the water, and attacked it with Dark Pulse.

An elderly Umbreon dodge out of the way, but fell to the ground as his knees suddenly buckled underneath him.

Darkrai was about to attack again, but stopped with his arm still raised in the air. "Another being of darkness. Can you hear my voice, I wonder?"

"Of course I can!" the old Umbreon said. "Why wouldn't I be able to."

Darkrai let his arm fall to his side and looked at the Umbreon curiously. "Why have you come here?"

"Just passing through. Searching for someone who doesn't exist, you know. Of course you don't know. No one ever does."

"I know…" Darkrai said to the Umbreon's surprise. "You won't make it as you are though. How you've lived for so long, I can't fathom."

"Sheer willpower." The Umbreon said with a smirk.

"Who are you searching for?" Darkrai asked.

"An old friend of mine." He said. "She was an Espeon. I was a human, but I couldn't stand being a human. I turned into an Umbreon for her sake, but things didn't go as planned."

"She ran from you because of darkness?" Darkrai asked.

"Nah, there are some people more understanding than that. You've just been unlucky not to meet anyone like that. It'll happen though; you'll see. Well, I asked that old scribe, Ninetales, to say that I had been turned back into a human. She didn't like lying about history, but she agreed in the end. See, Espeon's still alive, just not in a flesh and blood form. I have to find her."

Umbreon collapsed again and was suddenly overtaken by a fit of violent coughs. "Oh what she'll say when she sees me in this condition…"

"There is something you could try. It might benefit us both." Darkrai said.

"Really? And what's that?" Umbreon asked.

"I was made when some pokemon gave up their darkness in this lake to gain immortality. If you do the same, maybe another pokemon like me will be made and I won't be alone anymore. And you'll be able to live long enough to find that Espeon."

"Give up my darkness?" Umbreon said. "Never that. It's all I have left. Besides, what you need is someone who will light up your life a little. Someone who won't shun you because of darkness or befriend you because you're the only one who would return their friendship. Nah, I'll give you my light instead. Espeon's got enough for the both of us, I figure. How do I do this?"

Darkrai seemed mildly surprised that Umbreon was agreeing to this. "Step into the lake until you're entirely submerged and give it up willingly."

"That's all it takes, eh? Luckily I'm fairly better at swimming than walking these days." Umbreon stumbled over to the lake and swam towards the center. He let himself sink under the water and the water around him gradually started to turn white. The white water converged at the center and formed into a pokemon in the same way that Darkrai had from the black water. The bird like pokemon didn't rise above the surface, but instead swam towards Umbreon and pulled him above the surface. He seemed to have lost the strength to swim in this short amount of time and had swallowed some water, nearly drowning in the process.

"Well this is a funny one, isn't it?" Cresselia said to Darkrai. "Still, he has a good heart. It took the darkness of many legendary pokemon to make you while his light alone was enough for me." Cresselia carried him back to the shore and laid him down on the lifeless earth. "I suppose I could try to return the favor at least."

Cresselia started to hum a song under her breath as a bright light radiated from her. Old withered plants nearby suddenly stared to regrow and the Umbreon suddenly looked far younger than before.

"You helped him." Darkrai said. "He said I needed light. So are you…?"

Cresselia smiled warmly at him. "You have a good heart like he does. It doesn't matter whether a person leans towards darkness or light. But yes, I'll be your friend from now on. I won't be able to stay here though. I think I'll find another place to live. While your lake here is a place where no light can enter, my place will be where no darkness can enter. We'll have to find a mutual place to meet."

"You mean, leave the lake…?" Darkrai said uncertainly.

"Sure. You can do it if you want." Cresselia backed away from the water.

Darkrai stared at her and the ground in front of her uncertainly. He moved forward slowly and hesitantly left the area above the surface of the lake.

"You see?" Cresselia said. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

The look in Darkrai's eyes looked absolutely delighted. If he could smile, he definitely would have been, possibly for the first time ever. It was nice seeing Darkrai in such a good mood.

The vision ended there. Aamira was mildly disappointed; she wanted to know what had happened next. But then something else occurred to her. She turned to Shadow. "That Umbreon in the vision was you, wasn't it?"

Shadow nodded. "Shadow isn't my real name, of course. I chose that name in haste when I met Espeon and her siblings. When I thought of a name, that was the first thing to come to mind. Of course, this was the name of the pokemon that I and the first Espeon had raised together."

"Shadow Lugia…" Quill said. "You were the human who turned himself into an Umbreon because you were in love with that Espeon, right? And the two of you raised Shadow together."

Shadow nodded. "I suppose this means that your younger brother was more or less named directly after Shadow Lugia."

"So how did you meet Espeon and all of them?" Aamira asked.

"I eventually did find Espeon and Shadow turned into statues, but after that I had nowhere to go. I wondered if becoming immortal for such a thing was even worth it. I wandered around and found my way to Desolo. It was there that I found a house that looked as though it had been ransacked. There was no sign of the pokemon that lived there, but I did find a clutch of eggs that were hidden hastily under a loose board in the floor. I feared that the parents wouldn't be coming back for them, so I quickly cleaned up the house and watched over the eggs. After a few days, with no signs of the parents, the eggs hatched. The little Eevee who would one day evolve into Espeon knew immediately I wasn't one of their parents. To my surprise she learned to speak fairly quickly compared to the others. Almost immediately she asked who I was, and I hastily said that my name was Shadow to buy myself some time. I didn't want them to think I had something to do with whatever happened to their parents. I made up a story about being their older brother and as soon as they were old enough to travel, we became a nomadic family."

"So all of that happened…" Quill said. "I never would have guessed. Did you find out what happened to their parents?"

Shadow shook his head. "No. I was accused of being responsible for their disappearance many years later. My younger adopted siblings didn't really understand, but I had gotten them into trouble just by being with them. Everyone thought they were dangerous since I had raised them, so I took them up through the Tower to where the Looking Glass was. I pleaded with Giratina to let us through and he eventually agreed. Unfortunately, there had been pokemon who were pursuing us, and they caught up with us there. I held them at bay and told the others to run. Espeon especially didn't want to leave me there, so I told her this: In times of crisis you have to cast aside what you want, forget what you've lost, and be grateful for the things you still have and will have in the future. I told them that we would meet again eventually and that they would still have each other wherever they went. They finally escaped and I was captured, but escaped sometime later by coming to this world."

"That phrase you told them…" Quill said. "Espeon used to tell me that when I was younger. Even after I no longer remembered that she was my mother, I still remembered that phrase. She must have memorized it."

"It doesn't surprise me." Umbreon said with a smile.

"I thought he deserved an explanation of what had happened." Ruko said to Aamira and Lucario. "The two of you do as well. As do you, Roy. I've held off from explaining things to you, because I wanted you and Lucario to hear this together."

Lucario was now giving Ruko his full attention. This was what he had been waiting to hear for a long time now.

"You asked me back at the lake why I didn't help you and your friends fight Mismagius." Ruko said. "I must apologize, I really must. Lucario, I honestly thought that Mismagius would turn you to her side from the moment I left you at the castle as a hatchling. That's why I had a backup plan that I didn't even write about in the journal I left behind in the hideout. You proved me wrong, of course, but I decided to try to go through with the other plan regardless, since I had doubts that you would return from fighting Mismagius."

"I was your student and you doubted me that much?" Lucario asked. "Fine, what was this backup plan."

Ruko turned to Aamira and continued to speak. "Aamira, you might remember those symbols that appeared on the surface of the water when I was trying to scry before." Aamira nodded. "You no doubt have been wondering what they meant. When I saw that vision in the water, I thought it must have been a mistake. You see, I wrote in my journal that me and my wife had only one egg, which had hatched into the Riolu that I left in front of the castle. This was to throw off Mismagius in case she found that journal. Fortunately, she never did."

"But you're saying that you did have more than one egg?" Lucario said.

Ruko nodded. "That egg, as you may have guessed by now, was Roy."

They all stared at Ruko in shock, including Roy, who had lived his whole life thinking that both of his parents had died.

"But that's impossible!" Lucario said. "If you had two eggs at once, then both should have hatched around the same time, and yet Roy is years younger than me."

"That's true…" Roy said. "Except that it took years for me to hatch. My mom, that is, the Kangaskhan who raised me, was the only one in our group who still believed that I would ever hatch."

"Me and my wife knew that before the two of you hatched, you were both in danger. That's why we decided to try to hide both of you. We decided that the first to hatch would be brought back to the castle to be raised right under Mismagius's nose without her knowing who it was she was caring for. The other would go with my wife in an attempt to find a way to Quill's world. It was a difficult decision, but it was the only one that assured that at least one of you would survive.

"After I was cornered by Mismagius and managed to escape, I decided it was time to look for the rest of the family. I had no way of knowing where exactly they had gone, but I searched regardless. Eventually, I did find a way to the world where Roy was raised, but after searching for a long time, I came upon a peculiar rumor. I heard that a female Lucario, who was injured beyond saving, had traveled through a certain forest in an attempt to find someone who would raise her child once the egg hatched. She found a family of Kangaskhan, but in time, long after she had died, they had come to the conclusion that the egg would never hatch. I didn't do any further investigating into the matter; my heart was already broken as it was. I was convinced that Lucario would never come back from his fight with Mismagius and that the rest of my family had died. I didn't know what I would do if I actually went through with getting a conformation. Of course, I was later reunited with Lucario after the disaster that befell our worlds. I had never learned of Roy's existence though."

"That's why you left, isn't it?" Aamira asked Ruko. "Before you had seen that vision in the water, you had been traveling with us for a while, but then suddenly had to leave after that. You had gone to see for yourself, hadn't you?"

Ruko nodded. "I found the forest that I had heard of and found the Kangaskhan who had raised Roy and Sandslash. And what a surprise! They had formed an Investigation team and were currently living in the Investigator's Brigade headquarters. I was more than surprised. After all, I had been there only days before. I had even seen him, wearing the very pendant that had been passed down through our family, and I hadn't known!"

"There's actually something that I've been wanting to say too." Roy said. Instead of showing them, he raised his hands and formed a gold and silver Aura Sphere between them, just like the one he had used to attack Ninetales.

"You're an Aura Reader." Aamira said.

Roy nodded. "I wanted to tell you for a while, since you might know what to do, but one thing happened after another and I just never got the chance."

"Oftentimes, an Aura Reader's abilities are only unlocked after a strong surge of emotions and a desire to find the truth of something." Ruko said. "I assume it happened after Sandslash's betrayal?"

Roy nodded. "Yea, after that happened, I just kept getting all of these weird thoughts and ideas forming in my head, seemingly out of nowhere. It was all so confusing. I had suspicions, of course, but I was afraid I was just trying to subconsciously get my hopes up to cope with Sandslash leaving. I didn't find out for sure until coming here. While Aamira and Quill had ended up in different locations, I had ended up in a completely different time. I ended up meeting the first Riolu and he taught me the basics of how to use my abilities and agreed to come and help. At the very least, I was able to learn enough to be able to help seal Ninetales in that staff. Of course, finding the staff was no easy task either."

"You've done well." Ruko said. "And I must say, I've never seen such a perfect balance of gold and silver aura. You would make a fine king, if you're interested. You would never be forced into the position, of course."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm still taking all of this as a bit of a shock." Roy said. "Up until now, I had assumed that both of my parents had died. Now to find out that not only do I have a father, but that I'm also royalty… it's just a lot to accept right away. I think I'll just continue my Investigation team for now. If there's no one to accept the position in the future, I might consider it."

"I understand." Ruko said. "You should know that being an Aura Reader and a natural born Atran also makes it possible for you to travel to Atra whenever you want by finding the lake at the bottom of the Dark Rift. If you ever decide to visit, you're more than welcome. Whenever you want to go home, I can bring you back whenever you want."

"So, everyone else got to learn a little something about their past." Aamira said turning to Mew. "I don't suppose you have something to tell me about mine?"

Mew shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. Everything I knew about your past, I already told you. I really don't know any more about you. Believe me, if I could I would try to find out. I'll admit that it's not for your sake, but for the sake of finding out what happened to your mother."

"Yea, I understand." Aamira said, though she sounded upset by this. "So the one with amnesia is the only one who doesn't get to hear about their past. I expected no less, I'll admit."

"Erasing your memory was your own choice!" Mew snapped at her, but his voice immediately became a lot softer and kinder. "I was actually speaking to Lugia about this before you showed up. He thinks it's best if… Well, you know, I was the one who first brought you to Atra… If you want, I could… take you back."

The atmosphere had suddenly become tense around them. Lucario and Quill tried their hardest not to glance in Aamira's direction; they were terrified of what her expression might be.

"I should probably explain." Lugia said. "Your soul has been damaged, but not beyond repair. It would take some time to fix it though. During that time, you could return to the world where you were born. You could figure some things out about your past and maybe set a few things straight that you had left unfinished before. There's something else too. We think that in the past you might have been working for the same person as Ninetales, this 'Vulpine Lord' I've been hearing about so much lately. It's possible that, just because we got in the way of his plans this time, he'll most likely try something else."

"If I know him as well as I think I do," Mew said, "then odds are another one of his plans is already going underway. How long it takes for him to go through with it remains to be seen though."

"So basically you want a spy." Aamira said. "And while there I can do whatever investigating I want into my own past. Then I'll be able to come back when I'm done?"

"Most likely." Lugia said. "You never know what might happen. You might not be able to come back. You might not even want to. A lot can happen in a short amount of time, as you know."

"It's your decision, of course." Mew said. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Quill looked in her direction cautiously. "Aamira—"

"I need some time to think about it." Aamira turned to leave, but was stopped by Lucario who suddenly walked in front of her.

"Wait a second." He said. "There's something I need to know, regarding what Ninetales said before and what you had said when you first met Mismagius. From the way you acted towards Mismagius back then, I never thought that you could have ever wanted to work for her. And yet, something has always bothered me. I think I get it now, but I have to know. What was your reason for coming to Atra?"

Aamira looked down at the ground, not wanting to meet Lucario's eyes. "That was from before. I didn't want anything to do with it, did I?"

"Just answer me." Lucario said. "Please… Why were you sent to find Atra's prince?"

"I believe it was to kidnap the prince, who at the time I was sure was you." Aamira said.

"I had been convinced that thinking of you as a traitor was the biggest mistake I ever could have made." Lucario said.

"And I was a traitor, wasn't I?" Aamira lifted her head up again to meet Lucario's eyes. "Only it wasn't you who I was betraying! That's why I erased my memory!"

"I really wish I could believe it." Lucario said. "I really do, but I don't think I can live with being near you and feeling like I constantly have to be on my guard."

Aamira was quiet for a long time. They all thought for sure that she would lose her temper at this and that the two of them would end up in a huge argument. Because of this, it was the quietness in her voice that scared them.

"This was the third time, wasn't it?" Aamira said. "The third time you've insisted on making me your enemy. Once in Atra, which I can no longer even remember, which led to me getting captured my Mismagius, then when we first came to this world, and now…"

"We had a bet, you know?" Lucario said. "A bet that I could guess your real name in three tries. I only used two so far. My second guess was Aamira, which you became fond of and decided to use from then on. I think I've figured it out now though."

"Then what is it?" Aamira asked, sounding only mildly interested.

"Before when you told us the prophecy, there was one line that stood out in my mind. 'As they see before their eyes what destiny shows.' This seemed strange to me somehow. Every other line rhymed, but if this one was going to rhyme with the one before it, it would have made more sense if written, 'as they see before their eyes what their destinies show'. That's why I think that in this case, Destiny is a name. The name you went by as a human."

Aamira laughed bitterly. "You think so, do you? Unfortunately, I don't remember. Now that you mention it though, it does sound familiar. And what a terrible name it is, isn't it? So what exactly was it that we wagered in this bet?"

"We hadn't decided." Lucario said. "Both of us had only a few material possessions, which were too valuable to either of us to gambol with. We decided that whoever won would get to pick the prize."

This was it then. No doubt Aamira was about to tell her to go back to her own world. And if it wasn't? Maybe he would just make her swear never to betray any of them. Maybe he would say just to go home with Quill and not to ever come near Atra again. Whatever his response, Aamira suddenly found that she was dreading what he would decide.

Eventually, he sighed and walked past Aamira. "Do whatever you want."

Aamira watched him walk away, completely stunned by his words. Anything else he could have said would have been better than this. Quill walked up to her, wanting to say something to comfort her. The look on her face was like nothing he had ever seen though and he found himself momentarily at a loss for words.

"Aamira, are you alright?" he asked.

Aamira looked down at the ground again and repeated under her breath. "I need some time to think…" She walked off slowly in the direction opposite of the one that Lucario had gone in.

She sat on the edge of one of the smaller tree roots near the edge of the Sanctuary, thinking about everything that had happened over the past few days. What was she going to do? What could she do?

She hardly even noticed when Sandslash walked over and sat next to her. When she did notice, neither of them said a word. No doubt Sandslash was still feeling guilty about his betrayal. Neither of them really wanted to speak, but instead just enjoyed the fact that neither of them was entirely alone right now.

Aamira realized that every time something like this happened, it usually seemed as if she had to be the one to get cheered up first. This time, she decided that she would be the stronger of the two of them and try to comfort Sandslash about his position.

"No one blames you, you know?" Aamira said to Sandslash. "You're not going to do something stupid, like quit your team, are you?"

Sandslash blushed and looked away, as if that had been exactly what he was planning. "No, of course not! I have a lot of work to catch up on… Anyway, Roy told me what happened. What are you going to do?"

Aamira sighed. "I don't know. I honestly don't."

"I feel like I have to do something to make up for what I've done. Maybe you feel the same way? I don't know. Though it's not as if you haven't done more than enough to make up for whatever you might have done in your past. But maybe I shouldn't have asked what you're going to do. So what do you want to do?"

Aamira found that she couldn't answer. She wanted to go home with Quill. That wasn't what he was asking though, was it? He was really asking what she was going to do next. She assumed they would just go back to Investigating. After all that had happened though, it seemed like doing so would be more difficult than fighting Arceus another three times over. What did she want to do?

"So what about you?" Aamira asked. "Have any sort of master plan?"

Sandshrew sighed and shook his head. "I don't think I can do much more than just go with the flow for now and deal with whatever comes our way as it happens. Nothing glamorous, not that I'd want it to be." He looked up at the sky and smiled sadly. Already it was starting to get dark and the first few stars had appeared. "They really are just as beautiful as I had imagined. I had always wanted to see the stars. Roy always described them as little specks of light, but of course I didn't know what specks would look like. Or even light for that matter. Even so, it feels like I've always known how they look. Do you know what my life long dream was?"

"To be able to see?" Aamira guessed.

"Partly. It's partly the reason I feel so bad for what I had done. My dream was to be able to see and, as soon as I was able to, for the first thing I saw to be Roy. But when I evolved… I found myself completely alone in that place that Ninetales had brought me to. But then…" his eyes started to tear up for a second. "then just a few minutes later to see Roy come charging in and knocking Ninetales back with a silver and gold Aura Sphere… I don't think I could ever forget that. It seems strange thinking that he's still my older brother, now that I'm nearly a foot taller than him."

"So in the end your dream didn't really come true, but it was good enough, right?" Aamira asked. "I don't think I've really ever had a dream. For a while, I had wanted our team to become Master Rank, but I didn't exactly have to wait long for that, did I? Aside from that though… I have to admit, I still don't really know enough about your world to even find a dream. Most of the time spent in your world, I spent wondering about my past."

"So you could say that finding your past is your dream?" Sandshrew asked.

Aamira shook her head. "No, that's not right. Besides, I'm thoroughly convinced I was a terrible person back then. No, I think I'd rather not know."

"Yea… But you know, if you don't find out, you'll spend the rest of your life wondering. It would be the one mystery that you've given up trying to solve."

Aamira nodded. "I guess I really am an Investigator through and through. Of course, solving mysteries is what Investigators do best, isn't it?"

They sat in silence for a while longer. Aamira thought again about the dream she had had all that time ago of the older Lucario holding the Riolu hatchling in her arms and singing the lullaby from the music box. Aamira dug the Music Box out of her bag and started to sing along with the music when she opened it. "By the morning light, I'm gone, but never feel alone. Listen closely to the wind, it sings of the warmth it brings. Oh, sing for me now my brave hero as your flames shine through the dominion of ice. Oh, sing for me now, brave hero and dragon of white."

Quill hadn't seen Aamira for a few hours and was just about to go looking for her when he noticed that Lugia and Mew were back in the hollow of the tree again. Assuming the worst, Quill ran towards them and wasn't at all surprised to see that Aamira was with them. When he saw the look on her face, he knew exactly what she had decided to do.

Quill ran towards Aamira grabbed her arm, nearly falling to the ground in his haste. "Please, don't go! Not again! It was bad enough the first time after Mismagius and to think that you had disappeared while I wasn't even conscious… that I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye…"

Aamira smiled and hugged her little brother. "Well this time you don't need to worry. I've decided I'm a member of Team Sleuth above all else. If I don't go, It'll torture me for the rest of my life. But I promise I'll be back. This time, you'll know for sure."

"How do you know…?" Quill asked.

"I remembered what I saw in the lake…" Aamira said. "I ended up in the past, back at Shroud Lake when you were just a kid. Espeon gave you a box saying that if two friends bury it, they'll always meet back in that spot no matter the distance separating them."

"But would that work when separated by different worlds?" Aamira had the feeling that Quill still didn't remember, but was willing to hope it was true anyway. She wasn't even sure if it had happened at all. It could have just been a dream for all she knew.

"Well, it worked once before!" Aamira said. "I'm sure that it will work again."

Quill nodded through his tears and finally let her go. "What about Lucario?"

"I asked him to come say goodbye, but he refused." Lugia said.

"It's fine. I think he needs some time to sort out a few things himself." Aamira said. "I'm not sure if things could ever go back to the way they were before. In the end I guess what we both lacked was trust."

"The portal's ready." Mew said. Quill hadn't noticed before, but he suddenly realized that behind Cresselia's statue was a bright swirling vortex of some sort. This must be the portal that led back to Aamira's world. "Now remember, I'm going to put a seal on your memories of this world that will break automatically once we restore your soul. Until then though, it will be as if you've lost your memory all over again. Are you sure you're willing to go through with that?"

Aamira nodded. There was nothing that could change her mind now.

"Alright, you remember what I said before though." Mew said. "You'll have to leave all of your items from this world behind, including your scarf. You can take the music box, of course, since it originally came from your world."

"H-hold on!" Quill pulled out Aamira's Aura Glass from inside his bag. "I know what Mew just said, but take this with you at least! You said yourself that you were a member of Team Sleuth above all else. If anything, that's the one thing you can't forget."

Mew nodded when Aamira glanced in his direction. "Alright, I'll allow this one item. However, I'll have to put a suggestion into your mind not to let anyone else see it. If someone does, it could have some terrible consequences."

Aamira nodded and traded all of her other belongings, minus her music box, for her Aura Glass. She walked towards the portal with the music box in one hand and her Aura Glass in the other. She turned and gave Quill one last feeble smile. Through her tears, it wasn't as reassuring as she had hoped it would be. A second later, she was gone.


	60. Epilogue

Lucario was sitting in one of the high towers of Atra's castle, looking over the garden that was only just starting to regrow. The castle had apparently been deserted once Mismagius left it, so there was no one to question Lucario when he suddenly came back to live here. Of course, he hadn't come alone. Ruko decided to come too. He knew the relative place that his past self would most likely be at this point in time, so as soon as they had all had enough time to rest, they were going to go out searching for him. Of course, it would have been easier if Hunter was with them; he always excelled in tracking people. Unfortunately, Mew had asked him to stay behind to help repair Aamira's soul.

Roy had come too. Lucario was surprised, since the only other time he had been here, it had been as Mismagius's prisoner. As he had said though, he wanted to get to know the place where he was born. While Lucario had expected Sandslash to tag along too, he hadn't suspected Shadow to come along as well.

"I'd like to get to know the world where my adopted siblings live now." He had told Lucario. "I wouldn't want to rely on any of them, especially after the years I had spent taking care of them, so I thought I'd get a proper job as an Investigation Team member. Who better than Team Sandstone?"

"What about Team Sleuth?" Lucario had asked. "I suspect they'll need a temporary second leader."

In reply, Lucario had gotten a vicious glare from Shadow. "Join Team Sleuth? The very day one of their leaders leaves them? It's a bit soon for a replacement, don't you think?"

Indeed, it had been only a few hours ago that Lucario had been in the Other world. It was hard to believe, but it was true. He felt strangely empty now, and hadn't the slightest idea of what he was going to do now.

As Lucario watched Roy and Sandshrew having a practice battle in the garden with Shadow watching, he couldn't shake the feeling that something seemed strangely familiar about this.

"Sitting up here all alone?"

Lucario jumped and turned to see Ruko standing behind him. The old Lucario seemed a lot older now that he had returned to Atra.

"You're not going to suggest I go out there and join them, are you?" Lucario asked.

Ruko shook his head. "I want to talk to you about how you spoke to Aamira earlier." Lucario returned to staring out the window. "You've made yourself just as miserable as you made her. I know you had good intentions, but you may have gone too far this time."

"Doesn't matter does it?" Lucario said, not at all surprised that Ruko had seen through his intentions. "What I said before… Maybe I would have believed it had I known her reason for coming to Atra sooner."

"It looks like you're finally learning to become less biased. More than anything, you're finally learning to trust people." Ruko said.

"If I hadn't said something to make her mad enough to want to leave, she never would have."

"And you think that's for the best?" Hunter asked. "She may not want to come back. It could be that you'll never see her again."

"She'll come back." Lucario said with complete certainty. "There's no reason that she would ever leave Quill behind.

As Lucario watched the members of Team Sandstone from the window, it suddenly occurred to him why they looked so familiar. If Roy had been around when the eclipse had first started, he would have most likely evolved into a Lucario. If he had been a Lucario, then his Team Sandstone would now be a mirror image of the Creators, the first ever Investigation Team.

Of course, since Shadow was the first Umbreon, that meant that he was one of the ancestors of all of the Eevee and their evolutions. This meant that he was distantly related to the Umbreon in the Creators. Since Roy was Lucario's younger brother, that also meant that Roy was directly related to the Lucario that Aamira had been named after, who was another one of the Creators. Lucario didn't know anything about Sandslash's family, but he didn't have any doubt that their team would become a great one.

Lucario couldn't help wondering what Aamira was doing right now. Lucario had heard about the seal placed on her memory. Would she even have the slightest memory of any of them? Would she have any trouble adapting back to the human world? He already wished that he could see her again. More than anything, he just wanted to say that he was sorry.

The sunlight shining in through the window was almost unbearable. The human who had been sleeping in the bed woke up, shielding her eyes from the harsh light, which was reflecting off of the dust in the room. She wondered vaguely for a moment if it was the odd assortment of seemingly random items in the room that had caused so much dust to gather, or if it was just that no one had cleaned it in a really long time.

The walls looked like they had been painted a bright blue, but they had faded so much and collected so much dust that they now appeared to be a mix of pale green and grey. The purple rug on the floor looked just as bad. If anything, she thought that someone should at least get rid of a shag rug after collecting this much dust. It looked like it had been eaten partially by moths as well and seemed beyond repair. The clothes in her closet, the door to which didn't look like it had ever been shut, were in a similar condition. On top of the shelf in the closet were boxes of toys that hadn't been played with in a long time. On the other side of her room was a dresser with a mirror on top, which was covered in such a thick layer of cobwebs that no reflections were visible.

She looked in horror at the bed, expecting to have woken up among similarly dust-covered and moth-eaten blankets and pillows. To her relief, it seemed that this was the one thing that had been properly maintained.

For a few minutes, she didn't know why she was there. This place seemed familiar though. That's right, it was her room. Or at least, that's what she assumed. She had gone to bed, had a very strange dream that she now couldn't remember, and was having trouble remembering anything else right now because she was still trying to recover from it.

Had it been a good dream? She assumed it had been. She had a vague idea of how she had felt during various parts of it. There had been anger and calmness, love and loss, happiness and misery, fear and excitement… It must have been an amazing dream. She wished she could remember it. Not that it mattered. A dream was a dream and there wasn't any reason to dwell on it. All she could do for the time being was get out of bed and hope that she started to remember other things soon.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and flipped the covers off of her. She was still wearing her night gown, though it looked somehow foreign to her, as though she hadn't seen it in a long time. For some reason, she was surprised it still fit. She had a feeling that she was small for her age, though there was no reason for her to think that.

As she stood up, she heard something metallic fall to her wooden floor, followed by the sound of breaking glass. She looked down to find something that looked like a magnifying glass, though all of the glass had shattered once it fell to the floor. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands. On it was the name "Aamira". She was sure this wasn't her name, though it sounded so familiar somehow.

She sat back down on the bed, staring at the strange magnifying glass, and was startled when something that looked like a drop of water had fallen onto her hand. She raised her hand to her cheek and found that her face was already wet with tears, though she hadn't realized that she had started crying, nor did she know why she would be crying over a broken piece of glass.

In spite of this, the tears kept coming, worse than before. Was she crying over something she couldn't remember? Or was it just because she didn't know why she was crying? Whatever the reason, she clutched the broken magnifying glass tightly in her hands, as if it were life itself. A single thought came to her mind. "Above all else, never forget." Exactly what she wasn't supposed to forget, she couldn't remember.


End file.
